The Birthday of Claude Monet (1840) – Mathematics of Impressionism

Monet’s paintings use colour mixing – which is additive (light) or subtractive (paint). The mathematics of colour: RGB (additive) vs CMYK (subtractive). Impressionist technique places pure colours side by side; the eye blends them (optical mixing). This is a convolution of the colour field with the point spread function of the retina – a mathematical operation. Monet’s series (Haystacks, Rouen Cathedral) study changes in light, which can be modelled as a function of time and weather. Art and mathematics share the study of perception.