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Green TV Page 06

The 18th and 19th century brought the discovery and production of synthetic green pigments and dyes, which rapidly replaced the earlier mineral and vegetable pigments and dyes. These new dyes were more stable and brilliant than the vegetable dyes, but some contained high levels of arsenic, and were eventually banned.

In the 18th and 19th century, green was associated with the romantic movement in literature and art. The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau celebrated the virtues of nature, 

The German poet and philosopher Goethe declared that green was the most restful color, suitable for decorating bedrooms. Painters such as John Constable and Jean-Baptist-Camille Corot depicted the lush green of rural landscapes and forests. Green was contrasted to the smoky grays and blacks of the Industrial Revolution.

The second half of the 19th century saw the use of green in art to create specific emotions, not just to imitate nature. One of the first to make color the central element of his picture was the American artist James McNeil Whistler, who created a series of paintings called "symphonies" or "noctures" of color, including "Symphony in gray and green; The Ocean" between 1866 and 1872.

The late nineteenth century also brought the systematic study of color theory, and particularly the study of how complementary colors such as red and green reinforced each other when they were placed next to each other. 

These studies were avidly followed by arists such as Vincent Van Gogh. Describing his painting, The Night Cafe, to his brother Theo in 1888, Van Gogh wrote I sought to express with red and green the terrible human passions. The hall is blood red and pale yellow, with a green billiard table in the center, and four lamps of lemon yellow, with rays of orange and green. Everywhere it is a battle and antithesis of the most different reds and greens.