Knowledge about Munsell Color System

Munsell Color System

Since 1905 the Munsell color system exists.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the scientist, researcher and teacher Prof. Albert Henry Munsell (1858-1918) first introduced his new color system to the public. His idea of ​​the order of colors continued to evolve, even after his death. Over the last 115 years, color references and work equipment for international color communication for industry, business and science have been created.
The Munsell Color System is a national standard in the USA and is also used in many other countries.
Today, Munsell is a division of X-Rite.

Prof. Albert Henry Munsell was born on January 6, 1858 and died on June 28, 1918. On the occasion of his 100th anniversary, our in-house exhibition from June 5 to 8, 2018, featured an exhibition of historical exhibits from our Munsell collection. The exhibits are shown at exhibitions and conferences and can be visited on request in Wertheim.
Prof. Albert Henry Munsell, who dedicated his entire life to colors, already presented in 1905 an ingenious color order. On a vertical axis are the neutral colors of black (below) to white (top). Around this axis, the different hues are arranged so that the intensity of the color increases with the distance from the brightness axis.

The system has no limited, but an open color space, so you can always add more colors.
On the basis of this color order, color science has developed a mathematical system that describes this color space and forms the basis for today's color measurement technology.