If there is a truly magic moment in art class, it must be when a student--of any age--attains a working knowledge of color's core principles. At that point, she or he becomes able to consistently create color harmony in any painting, regardless of the subject matter. From then on, that student gains greater confidence, can paint better pictures and has lots more fun painting. Just as importantly, the same burgeoning artist leaves behind the frustrations of trial-and-error painting. Fortunately, color's core principles are not difficult to teach or to learn, and the rewards can be reaped for a lifetime. As the French artist Eugene Delacroix once observed, "Not only can color, which is under fixed laws, be taught like music, but it is easier to learn than drawing." All a student needs are paints and a standard color wheel, which is inexpensive and widely available at art-supply stores and Web sites. It is a mystifying fact of Nature that only certain color combinations are harmonious and attractive while others are discordant and unpleasant. Remarkably, there are only six basic harmonic color combinations, or color schemes. Those six schemes form the underpinnings of practically all successful paintings one is apt to see in a lifetime. This article discusses the six basic color schemes.