From our archive: talk given 11 May 2023
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Colours have secrets. Invented by Stone age cave-dwellers and mediaeval conjurers, cunning conmen and savvy scientists: the pigments used to create the greatest paintings and sculptures in art history tell riveting tales all their own.

In this talk, based on his book The Art of Colour, historian Kelly Grovier explores the astonishing origins of the colours that comprise some of the most famous works in cultural history and reveals how an awareness of their remarkable backstories can change forever the way we appreciate those masterpieces.

What does it mean to the intensity of Van Gogh Starry Night that the yellow moon pulsating in the canvas’s corner owes its brilliance to a small herd of cows fed nothing more than mango leaves? How was an obscure alchemist born in Frankenstein’s Castle in 1673 responsible for enriching the lustre of the surging blue waters that crest and curl in Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa? With every discovery of a colour’s surprising origin, the story of art is rewritten.