MunsellFarbsystem

MunsellFarbsystem is a color classification and specification framework that describes colors in a perceptually meaningful, machine-readable way. It corresponds to the Munsell Color System, developed by Albert Henry Munsell in the early 20th century, with key works published as A Color Notation and later The Munsell Book of Color.

The system organizes color along three independent dimensions: Hue, Value (lightness), and Chroma (color purity). Hue is arranged on a circular wheel with ten named sectors (Red, Red-Orange, Yellow, Green-Yellow, Green, Blue-Green, Blue, Purple-Blue, Purple, and Red-Purple). Intermediate gradations and numeric qualifiers such as 5R or 10YR locate a hue within the wheel.

Value runs from 0 (black) to 10 (white); chroma measures saturation and is typically capped by value and hue, often reaching 12–14 in vibrant colors. A color is notated as Hue Value/Chroma, for example 5R 4/6 or 10YR 7/12.

Applications include paint and pigment specification, color education, and standardized color description in soil science through Munsell soil-color charts. The design emphasizes perceptual uniformity across lightness and color purity to ease precise communication.

Today the Munsell system remains in use in certain fields and for historical and archival reasons, even as digital color spaces like CIELAB and sRGB dominate computer workflows.