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Color and perception theory / Materials science and color chemistry

The question of the nature of color and the effect of materials on the observer of artworks undoubtedly prompted artists in the 19th century to impart these topics to all students at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in lectures. This was also enshrined in the statutes with the decree of August 15, 1872.

The questions "What is color and how do we perceive it?" or "What materials stood for traditional paintings and are today available for contemporary art?" still remain at the center of lectures, exercises and above all workshops, where especially the characteristics, chemical composition, long-term behavior and increasingly also the health effects in the artistic practice are considered.

The various color theories and their application in artworks, as well as color and colorants are also treated as symbols in Western cultural development within diploma, master or dissertation works.