Colourful stuff.

The painter Kandinsky is supposed to have said that colour is a force that directly influences your soul. So here is some stuff about colour.

The lighting in our bedroom is subdued, to say the least. Reading in bed is only manageable because there are good bedside lamps. But the main lighting is so dull that it is often difficult tell what is the true colour of socks or tights or, indeed, almost any item of clothing. Sometimes I have to take things out of the room to a better lit part of the house to check the colour. It’s probably more important with the tights than with anything else. You can feel really foolish when you get to the bus stop thinking you are wearing brown tights, only to discover that they are, in fact, purple and clash horribly with the shoes you are wearing, if not with the whole of the rest of your outfit for the day!

Perception of colour is a funny thing. Phil and I have been known to differ, if not actually argue, about what colour something is. He has a pair of grey trousers which he swears are green. Okay, I concede that they might have a greenish tinge in certain lights but really their basic colour is grey. But I make absolutely no concessions about the grey woolly hat which he says is purple. Never in a month of Sundays is there even a hint of purple there!

And now I learn that I should be the one seeing extra colours in the grey rather than him. Actually I put it down to a misconception on his part, nothing to do with seeing more colours. However, scientists say that we women see a greater range of colours than men, differentiating between varying shades of the same colour. This all dates back to ancient times when men were the hunters and women were the gatherers. Women needed to be able to decide whether or not a berry or fruit was edible or poisonous, usually according to the colour. A difference in shade could mean the difference between life and death!

Men, on the other hand, have a better perception of fast moving objects than women. Again this goes back to more primitive times, when men had to be able to hunt and kill fast-moving animals. According to the scientists, this is why men have better hand-eye coordination than women and are better at playing catch!

Eat your heart out egalitarians!

Some might argue that this colour perception business explains why women’s clothes are often more colourful than men’s but then there have been periods in the past when men were as colourfully dressed as women. I wonder if the same rule applies to birds and animals where the female is often more drab; think of peacocks and peahens! Maybe the colour would be wasted on the male of the species as he could ot really appreciate it!

It might also explain why so many women end up selecting their husbands’ wardrobe!