Frequentely Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions about the Le Corbusier colour system. Discover the Le Corbusier colours, our licensed partners and much more about Les Couleurs® Le Corbusier®. You will also find answers to questions about our online shop, the colour design products and the processing of your order. You will find the legally binding contractual provisions in our Terms and Conditions, which also contain the legally required consumer information.
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Le Corbusier perfectly coordinated the 63 colours of the Architectural Polychromy, making them harmoniously combinable all throughout. All colour shades have a spatial function and a psychological effect. Le Corbusier created the 63 colours in two collections, in 1931 and 1959.
They are harmonious colours of nature. The special thing about Polychromy is that all colours can be freely and impressively combined with each other. The 63 colours of the Architectural Polychromy are selected in such a way that desired colour effects can be easily created, while excluding negative effects from the outset right away. The Fondation Le Corbusier has exclusively entrusted the Les Couleurs Suisse AG with the distribution of the Architectural Polychromy.
Les Couleurs Suisse AG has been exclusively entrusted by the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris with the worldwide licensing rights for the Le Corbusier colours. The original Le Corbusier colours and products are marketed under the brand of authenticity Les Couleurs® Le Corbusier®. The partner network is exclusive and active worldwide. If you are unsure about your wall paint being a Le Corbusier colour or your design product really using Le Corbusier colours? Contact us, we will be happy to advise you!
The 63 colours of Le Corbusier's Architectural Polychromy have been chosen in such a way that the desired colour effects can be easily created. Le Corbusier's colour system conveys information with each colour tone – visual and psychological. The colours trigger emotional and physical reactions, they influence human behaviour and modify the space. Le Corbusier developed the following principles:
Colour modifies space.
Colour classifies objects.
Colour has a physiological effect on us and reacts strongly to our sensitivities.
Not all colours are the same – the Le Corbusier colour palette convinces with its extraordinary radiance, brilliance and depth effect. Each of the 63 colours from Le Corbusier's colour system has a historical, artistic and associative background. The colours create atmospheres that go far beyond mere functional requirements. The 63 colours of Le Corbusier's polychromy have been selected in such a way that the desired purely positive colour effects can be easily created.
The Architectural Polychromy is the comprehensive Le Corbusier colour system for colour design. It contains 63 colour shades that Le Corbusier created in two colour collections in 1931 and 1959. All colour shades have an artistic and historical background and are coordinated with each other, so that they can be combined in any way. They are all characterised by an inner, harmonious and timeless coherence. Each nuance has its relevance and embodies specific spatial and human effects. The Le Corbusier colours cannot be translated into other colour systems such as RAL or NCS. The Fondation Le Corbusier has entrusted the distribution of Architectural Polychromy exclusively to Les Couleurs Suisse AG.
In order to recognise his own affinities and select individual preferences, Le Corbusier created, in addition to the individual colour shades, different colour keys with moods that reflect specific colour functions. The combination of colourful and achromatic shades and of different brightness values underlines Le Corbusier's extraordinary experience in architecture and as a painter, which is the foundation of the entire Architectural Polychromy, in fact of the entire colour system.
The first attempts of Polychromy mentioned by Le Corbusier in his ‘Œuvre complète’ concern the interiors of the houses of La Roche and Jeanneret in 1923. Le Corbusier seized the opportunity that the Swiss firm Salubra offered him a few years earlier to publish the first part of the Architectural Polychromy as a wallpaper collection. This was an "oil paint in rolls". It takes into account the different sensitivities of the individual when choosing the colours. The Le Corbusier colour palette is a masterpiece with only 63 unique colours.
Le Corbusier developed the following principles for his colour theory:
Colour modifies space "Blue and its green mixtures create space, give distance, create atmosphere, move the wall into the distance... Red (and its brown, orange and other mixtures) fix the wall, confirm its exact position, its dimension, its presence".
Colour classifies objects "Monochrome allows the exact estimation of the volumes of an object. Polychromy (two, three colours, etc.) destroys the pure form of the object, alters its volume, opposes the exact estimation of this volume and, conversely, makes it possible to bring to mind only what one wants to show of a volume: whether it is a house, an interior or an object."
Colour has a physiological effect on us and reacts strongly to our sensitivities "Colour is closely linked to our being; each of us may have our own colour; even if we are often unaware of it, our instincts are not wrong."