Most people are familiar with Newton’s theory of color which theorized that light was split up into its component colors when it passed through a prism. But, Newton was dealing with light after it had passed through the matter of a crystal and what was visible on the other side. This means he looked at the colors as physical elements, but it does not answer the question of where those colors are born. This would require looking at the other side of the crystal or prism, on the side of light and shadow.

Rudolf Steiner, the science editor for the Kurschner edition of Goethe's works, gave the following analogy:  

 

Goethe expresses it thus:

Steiner developed Goethe’s theory, taking a step forward by dividing the 7 colors into two groups: 3 splendor or lustre colors, and 4 image colors. Splendor colors are yellow, blue, and red. Yellow arises when light, or bright white, first meets darkness. Blue arises when darkness, or black, first meets light. And red arises where the two meet.

Image colors are variations of the three splendor colors: yellow, blue, and red. While the splendor colors are three and are represented on the lemniscate, the image colors are represented on the 4, the form of manifestation. These image colors relate to the four kingdoms of nature. The first is black and relates to the mineral kingdom. The second is green, related to the etheric world and the vegetal kingdom. The third is peach blossom, related to the astral world and the animal kingdom. And the fourth is white, related to the spiritual world and the kingdom of man.

Beyond this, colors affect us on different levels of our being: at a physical level, soul level, and spiritual level. And the quality of color changes depending upon the source of the pigment, for example. A mineral pigment creates a different resonance in us than a pigment of vegetal or animal origin. See Spiritual Architecture DVDs and Transcripts