Polychromie Architecturale

Le Corbusier designed two color collections for the Salubra wallpaper company: the “Clavier de couleurs” of 1931, with 43 colors, and the 1959 collection, with 20. Not content with the mere color selection, drawn from his experience as an architect and painter, he also organized the tones on 12 sample cards in such a manner that, by using a slider, three or five colors could be varyingly isolated or combined. Each card contained a different color scheme meant, when applied, to create a particular spatial effect. This would become not only a useful tool but also a kind of testament of the purist color theory, an essential groundwork and a valuable instrument for all those who deal with color in theory or practice.

In the first volume, Arthur Rüegg, the renowned Le Corbusier expert, explores the significance of the Salubra collections for the history of modern architecture, and in the epilogue to this third edition, presents the specialist research conclusions from the last twenty years. The second volume contains 13 color plates with the 63 colors, printed using the screen printing method and glued by hand as well as 4 separate sliders in pocket. Volume three consists of 63 full page color sample sheets, also printed using the screen printing method.