Rudolf Steiner’s sketches for the Eurythmy Figures were done in pencil, with hatching indicating the areas to receive the indicated colors, and the colors written off on the side. There are two main challenges in translating this into a finished Eurythmy Figure. Hue and blending.
Hue: How many colors are there? The rainbow supposedly has seven. Your computer monitor claims to be able to show 24 billion separate hues. The paint section in the store has several hundred tints, each with its own creative name. Small libraries of books have been written on human color perception, as well as its changes over time. Homer’s description of the “wine dark sea” in the Odyssey has caused more than a few thinkers, including Steiner, to claim that the ancient Greeks were incapable of perceiving purple. In that hypothesis, it is not that there retinal receptors could not pick up the wavelength, but rather that their minds did not have a category separating dark blue from purple. There simply was not a word for it. Today we do have words for a far wider range of colors, but these likewise remain inadequate. Those who work professionally in the field have developed several separate systems to enable an objective description of a specific color, the best known for industrial purposes being the Pantone system. Each separate color gets a number assigned, and this number guarantees that each specific shade of blue or hue of purple will be reproduced exactly.
Such a specific system of color naming did not exist in Rudolf Steiner’s time. Instead the Eurythmy Figures call for “green” or “blue”. Where Steiner attempts to be more specific, he calls for “greenish-bluish” or “reddish purple”. In some places for a “soft blue tint”. But ultimately these prove to be extremely general indications. There are a wide range of greens, and many different shades of blue (cobalt, azure, sky, etc.). Which one is called for? In practice this ends up being an artistic choice. In looking over the early examples of Eurythymy Figures you can see the artists working out several different approaches. For this set I have done my best to balance my artistic sensibilities with Steiner’s indications. A lot of the choices have to do with the combinations. A purple that is set off against an orange might require a slightly different hue than a purple that is being combined with green.
I did do additional research trying to understand what the colors may have meant to Steiner. Along the way I found a fascinating book by a British historian that examines the use of color words in German literature over a 300 year period. This was both helpful and failed to provide any guidance. I learned a great length how the German word “lila”, which can mean purple or lilac or violet depending, has changed in its usage in German literature from the 17th to the early 20th centuries. But it still did not tell me what color Steiner wanted when he wrote “lila” on the sketch. Did he want a light lilac, or a violet hue, or a deep purple? Any of those colors could have been indicated.
Blending: The second problem comes with blending. It is almost immediately evident that Steiner was sketching his indications for the Eurythmy Figures using spiritual vision, and was not thinking as a graphic artist. This shows up in the very first figure, for the sound A. The color scheme calls for somewhat overlapping reddish-purple, greenish-bluish, and then a light red tint over that. It does not take much experience with color to realize that when you mix reddish-purple and greenish-bluish, you end up with a muddy brown. And adding a bit of light red is not going to make any appreciable difference. But that is exactly what the indications call for: layering greenish-bluish over reddish-purple and then finishing it off in some sections with light red. I spent quite a lot of time with different shades and dilutions of color until I got something that kind of worked. I took some solace in looking at attempts nearly 100 years earlier where other artists had struggled with exactly the same problem.
Thankfully not all 35 figures have this problem to quite the same degree, but it is something that comes up in most of them. In many cases the solution is to dilute the colors where they overlap and then to make them stronger where they stand alone. This allows the blended portion to have the same intensity as the unblended piece. Often, however, the third color, the “character” color, works better when it is opaque. Usually it highlights only a few small areas, so this works reasonably well. It is the “movement” and “feeling” colors that require careful blending.