How do the colours artists choose – and the ways each of us experience them – help us find a story?
Join Beks and author Chloë Ashby as they take a closer look at how to ‘read’ colour in some of the National Gallery’s most iconic paintings. From Van Gogh to Caravaggio, they examine how different artists use colour to guide narrative, shape meaning and even evoke emotion.
Whether you’re an art lover or new to art history, uncover hints and tips for how to decode your favourite paintings through colour.
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Chloë is an author and award-winning arts critic. She is the author of Wet Paint (2022) and Second Self (2023). Her third novel, ‘Family Friends’, will be published by Penguin Fig Tree in summer 2026. She is also the author of two non-fiction books on art history: ‘Look At This If You Love Great Art (2021)’ and ‘Colours of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Palettes’ (2022).
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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🎨 Find out more about the artworks mentioned in this episode:
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, ‘The Supper at Emmaus’, 1601 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio-the-supper-at-emmaus
Diego Velázquez, ‘The Toilet of Venus ('The Rokeby Venus')’, 1647-51 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/diego-velazquez-the-toilet-of-venus-the-rokeby-venus
Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, ‘Combing the Hair ('La Coiffure')’, About 1896 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hilaire-germain-edgar-degas-combing-the-hair-la-coiffure
Vincent van Gogh, ‘Sunflowers’, 1888 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers
Peter Paul Rubens, ‘The Judgement of Paris’, Probably 1632-5 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/peter-paul-rubens-the-judgement-of-paris
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Further reading:
Chloë Ashby, ‘Colours of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Palettes’, 2022 [Book]
Chloë Ashby, ‘Look at This if You Love Great Art’, 2021 [Book]
Find out more about Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas’s fiery painting ‘Combing the Hair ('La Coiffure')' on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOSllLel-UI
Explore 'The Story of Van Gogh's Yellow Palette' from the National Gallery's 'Chemistry of Colour' YouTube series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdapnts7kIk
Find out more about the restoration of Peter Paul Rubens’s ‘The Judgement of Paris’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiL3z0a9-eo
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Episode credits:
Guest: Chloë Ashby
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Tom Gulliver
Video Producer: Alessandro Sorenti
Editor: Paul Frankl
Theme music: Theo Elwell
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The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
A teenage chemist’s accidental discovery didn’t just revolutionise colour history – it sparked a viral Victorian colour craze!
Cultural historian Kassia St Clair joins Beks to uncover the story of mauveine – the world’s first synthetic aniline dye. Practically overnight, this striking purple became a mass-market sensation. Mauve reshaped Victorian fashion and left a legacy that stretches all the way from a laboratory in Victorian London’s East End to portraits of icons like Oprah Winfrey.
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Kassia is the author of books including 'The Secret Lives of Colour', 'The Golden Thread' and 'Liberty: Design. Pattern. Colour'. She specialises in telling stories about the overlooked and everyday.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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Kassia St Clair, ‘The Secret Lives of Colour’, 2016 [Book]
Kassia St Clair, ‘The Secret Lives of Colour: Expanded Edition’, 2025 [Book]
Simon Garfield, ‘Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World’, 2000 [Book]
Find out more about William Henry Perkin here: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp37617/william-henry-perkin
Perkin, W. H. ‘On Mauve or Aniline-Purple'. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 13 (1863-1864): 170-176. [Journal article] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspl.1863.0042
Find out more about ‘The Mauve Measles’ in Punch Magazine, 20 Aug 1859: https://magazine.punch.co.uk/image/I0000tqpCmhDDsLU
Oscar Wilde, ‘The Decay of Lying’, 1891 [Book]
Oscar Wilde, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, 1890 [Book]
Find out more about artist Shawn Michael Warren: https://www.shawnmichaelwarren.com/
Find out more about Oprah Winfrey and the colour purple: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/oprah-winfrey-national-portrait-gallery-shawn-michael-warren-commission-180983424/
Watch or listen to our episode of ‘Stories of Colour’ on Tyrian purple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcPMFsafav8
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Episode credits:
Guest: Kassia St Clair
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Timothy Carpenter
Video Producers: Jeanne Kenyon and Alessandro Sorenti
Editor: Paul Frankl
Theme music: Theo Elwell
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
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The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
What makes two volcano-born pigments so dangerous? Hint: they weren’t scorching hot when artists used them. Orpiment and realgar both contain arsenic, a foe we’ve previously faced on ‘Stories in Colour’.
From volcanoes to ancient alchemical practices, art historian Evie Hatch joins Beks to uncover the origins and histories of these orange and yellow pigments. Together, they discuss how orpiment and realgar have been used, where their names come from and the risks artists faced painting with them.
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Evie Hatch is an art historian specialising in the history and characteristics of artist pigments. She is the writer and presenter of Jackson's Art Pigment Stories series and author of the 2025 book ‘Pigment Stories: The History of Artists' Colour’.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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🎨 Find out more about the artworks in this episode:
Domenichino and assistants, ‘The Judgement of Midas’, 1616-18 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/domenichino-and-assistants-the-judgement-of-midas
Titian, ‘The Holy Family with a Shepherd’, About 1510 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-the-holy-family-with-a-shepherd
Titian, ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’, 1520-3 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-bacchus-and-ariadne
Jacopo Tintoretto, ‘Christ washing the Feet of the Disciples’, About 1575-80 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jacopo-tintoretto-christ-washing-the-feet-of-the-disciples
Jacopo Tintoretto, ‘The Origin of the Milky Way', About 1575 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jacopo-tintoretto-the-origin-of-the-milky-way
Rachel Ruysch, ‘Flowers in a Vase’, About 1685 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/rachel-ruysch-flowers-in-a-vase
Margarito d’Arezzo, ‘The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Scenes of the Nativity and the Lives of the Saints’, Probably about 1263-4 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/margarito-d-arezzo-the-virgin-and-child-enthroned-with-narrative-scenes
Cennino Cennini, ‘Il Libro dell’arte’, produced in late 14th-century [Book]
Find out more about ‘Titian’s Painting Technique before 1540’ in the National Gallery Technical Bulletin: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/media/16259/vol-34-essay-1-2013.pdf
Find out more about the use of orpiment in Margarito d’Arezzo’s ‘The Virgin and Child Enthroned’: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/bAVhk85cvIns0Q
Find out more about research on degrading colours in yellow flowers in 17th-century still life paintings: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9176749/
Listen to our episode from series one of ‘Stories in Colour’ on deadly green pigments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PIn-7FesV8
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Additional note: Please note that mentions of the emperor Caius during this episode are in reference to the Roman emperor Gaius Caesar (Caligula). https://www.britannica.com/biography/Caligula-Roman-emperor
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Episode credits:
Guest: Evie Hatch
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Tom Gulliver
Video Producer: Alessandro Sorenti
Editor: Paul Frankl
Theme music: Theo Elwell
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Follow us on social media!
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Help keep the museum accessible for everyone by supporting us here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/support-us
The world's greatest paintings to your inbox. Sign up to receive the latest news from the Gallery: https://bit.ly/3m0FY98
The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
Travel with us beyond the sea to look at ultramarine, a pigment that was once even more precious than gold.
In this episode, writer Victoria Finlay joins Beks for a discussion on how researching ultramarine took her to Afghanistan. She journeyed to the blue mines where you can find lapis lazuli, the semi-precious stone ultramarine comes from. Along the journey, we pause to look at some of the National Gallery’s paintings – including one noteworthy for its lack of ultramarine...
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Victoria has written several books about colour - including 'Colour, Travels through the Paintbox' and 'The Brilliant History of Color in Art' - which involved travelling across the globe to the very places that ancient pigments and dyes came from. Her most recent book is about the hidden histories of fabric.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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🎨 Find out more about the artworks in this episode:
English or French (?), ‘The Wilton Diptych’, About 1395-9 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/english-or-french-the-wilton-diptych
Michelangelo, ‘The Entombment (or Christ being carried to his Tomb)’, About 1500-1 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/michelangelo-the-entombment-or-christ-being-carried-to-his-tomb
Sassoferrato, ‘The Virgin and Prayer’, 1640-50 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/sassoferrato-the-virgin-in-prayer
Titian, ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’, 1520-3 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-bacchus-and-ariadne
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, ‘The Umbrellas’, About 1881-6 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/pierre-auguste-renoir-the-umbrellas
Claude Monet, ‘Irises’, About 1914-17 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/claude-monet-irises
Paul Cezanne, ‘Hillside in Provence’, About 1890-2 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/paul-cezanne-hillside-in-provence
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Further reading:
Victoria Finlay, ‘Color: A Natural History of the Palette’, 2002
Victoria Finlay, ‘Colour: Travels through the Paintbox’, 2002
Victoria Finlay, ‘The Brilliant History of Color in Art’, 2014
Victoria Finlay, ‘Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World’, 2021
Cennino Cennini, ‘Il Libro dell'Arte’, produced in the late 14th-century
Find out more about Ultramarine in our ‘Chemistry of Colour’ YouTube series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EzUlnRtDGM
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Episode credits:
Guest: Victoria Finlay
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Tom Gulliver
Video Producers: Jeanne Kenyon and Alessandro Sorenti
Editor: Paul Frankl
Theme music: Theo Elwell
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Follow us on social media!
⭐️ Instagram: https://instagram.com/nationalgallery
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Help keep the museum accessible for everyone by supporting us here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/support-us
The world's greatest paintings to your inbox. Sign up to receive the latest news from the Gallery: https://bit.ly/3m0FY98
The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
Welcome back to a new series of ‘Stories in Colour’. To kick off, we’re tackling one of the topics we received the most questions about − synaesthesia.
Join Beks and this week’s guests, composer Dr Deborah Pritchard and leading expert on synaesthesia Professor Jamie Ward, as they set out to answer questions such as: What is synaesthesia and what might yellow sound like?
We are also joined in the studio by violinist Greta Mutlu and cellist Richard Harwood. They help bring Deborah’s own personal experience of synaesthesia to life through music.
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Jamie is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. He is one of the world's leading experts on synaesthesia and is the author of several books, including ‘The Frog Who Croaked Blue: Synesthesia and the Mixing of the Senses’.
Deborah is an award-winning British composer known for her work relating to synaesthesia. She has been performed worldwide by the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and more. She is Associate of The Faculty of Music, Oxford and the Royal Academy of Music and was Visiting Fellow at Keble College, Oxford from 2022-23.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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🎨 Find out more about the artworks mentioned in this episode:
Sassoferrato, ‘The Virgin in Prayer’, 1640-50 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/sassoferrato-the-virgin-in-prayer
Claude Monet, ‘Water-Lilies’, after 1916 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/claude-monet-water-lilies
Jamie Ward, ‘The Frog who Croaked Blue: Synesthesia and the Mixing of the Senses’, 2008
Wassily Kandinsky, ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art’, 1911
Find out more about Deborah Pritchard’s ‘Wall of Water’ and the English String Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l4yX6sZqVw
Find out more about Maggi Hambling’s ‘Walls of Water’ exhibition 2014-15: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/past/maggi-hambling-walls-of-water
Find out more about composer Olivier Messiaen: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Olivier-Messiaen
Step into the 'National Gallery Imaginarium': https://imaginarium.nationalgallery.org.uk/
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Additional note: The 'National Gallery Imaginarium' digital experience features an introductory poem titled 'The Imaginarium' by poet and novelist Sir Ben Okri.
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Episode credits:
Guests: Dr Deborah Pritchard and Professor Jamie Ward
Musicians: Cellist Richard Harwood and Violinist Greta Mutlu
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Tom Gulliver
Video Producers: Alessandro Sorenti and Amber Akaunu
Editor: Oli Mason
Theme music: Theo Elwell
#NationalGallery #ArtHistory #Podcast #Colour
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The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
What does colour sound like? Why was mauve the brat green of the Victorian era? And is pink really just for girls?
Welcome back to another series of 'Stories in Colour', the National Gallery's vibrant podcast. Join us on a journey that travels from mines in Afghanistan, to the East End of Victorian London. Hear from curators, scientists, historians and artists, for fresh perspectives and unexpected discoveries.
The first episode of series two is out now on Youtube and wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
When the artist Louise Nevelson immigrated to America as a child, she was told that ‘the streets... would be paved in gold’. Obviously, they weren’t, but that hasn’t stopped modern artists turning pretty much everything else golden. Even a toilet.
Join National Gallery Courses and Events Programmer Caroline Miller, Associate Curator of Contemporary and Modern Priyesh Mistry and host Beks in the final episode of our sparkling miniseries. From Gustav Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ to an artwork so valuable it has hardly ever been displayed, we explore how artists have explored and tested the limits of gold.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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🎨 Find out more about artworks in the episode:
Joseph Beuys, ‘How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare’, 1965. Galerie Schmela, Düsseldorf [Performance art] https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/434.1997.9/
Gustav Klimt, ‘The Kiss (Lovers)’, 1908 (completed 1909). Belvedere Museum, Vienna https://sammlung.belvedere.at/objects/6678/der-kuss-liebespaar
‘Emperor Justinian and Members of His Court’, early 20th century reproduction (original dated 6th century, Byzantine). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/466586
Find out more about Maurizio Cattelan’s ‘America’ (2016) here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjev7vn4qp0o https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1j8z6r8zl6o
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Episode credits:
Guests: Caroline Miller and Priyesh Mistry
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technician: Ian Warren
Video editors: Jeanne Kenyon and Alessandro Sorenti
Theme music: Theo Elwell
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Follow us on social media!
⭐️ Instagram: https://instagram.com/nationalgallery
⭐️ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nationalgallerylondon
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Help keep the museum accessible for everyone by supporting us here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/support-us
The world's greatest paintings to your inbox. Sign up to receive the latest news from the Gallery: https://bit.ly/3m0FY98
The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
When did gold become a colour? We journey from the majestic mosaics of the Byzantine era to the brilliantly burnished panel paintings of the early Renaissance to answer this very question.
Join Laura Llewellyn, National Gallery Curator of Italian Paintings before 1500, art historian, educator and author Ben Street and host Beks on this sparkling adventure as they explore how artists have created with gold and captured this glittering metal in paint.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
____
🎨 Find out more about artworks in the episode:
Jean Hey (Master of Moulins), 'The Meeting at the Golden Gate; Charlemagne', about 1491-4. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jean-hey-master-of-moulins-the-meeting-at-the-golden-gate-charlemagne
'Interior of St. Mark's Basilica, Venice'. Photo by Fabian Kleiser via UnSplash, published 2025 https://unsplash.com/photos/ornate-cathedral-interior-with-golden-mosaics-tVKoHsP91OU
'Interior of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul'. Photo by Nodir Khalilov via UnSplash, published 2023 https://unsplash.com/photos/an-open-door-to-a-large-building-with-many-windows-yGD7slI6DzQ
'Interior of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul'. Photo by Raimond Klavins via UnSplash, published 2021 https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-and-beige-concrete-wall-YB-SvzCYWfk
Masaccio, 'The Virgin and Child', 1426. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/masaccio-the-virgin-and-child
Jacopo di Cione, 'The Crucifixion', about 1369-70. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jacopo-di-cione-the-crucifixion
Fra Angelico, 'Fiesole San Domenico Altarpiece', about 1423-4. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/fra-angelico-christ-glorified-in-the-court-of-heaven
Andrea Mantegna, 'The Virgin and Child with Saints', about 1490-1505. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/andrea-mantegna-the-virgin-and-child-with-saints
Giovanni Bellini, 'The Agony in the Garden', about 1458-60. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/giovanni-bellini-the-agony-in-the-garden
Sandro Botticelli, 'Birth of Venus', around 1485. The Uffizi Gallery, Firenze, Italy https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/birth-of-venus
Sandro Botticelli, 'Saint Francis of Assisi with Angels', about 1475-80. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/sandro-botticelli-saint-francis-of-assisi-with-angels
Domenichino and assistants, 'Apollo killing the Cyclops', 1616-18. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/domenichino-and-assistants-apollo-killing-the-cyclops
Titian, 'Bacchus and Ariadne', 1520-3. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-bacchus-and-ariadne
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Further reading:
Discover more on gold in the National Gallery’s collection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diJUaHMnazU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y6T7IfNAc1jMa_zMoX231MX
Find out more about the winter solstice: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/solstices-equinoxes
____
Episode credits:
Guests: Laura Llewellyn and Ben Street
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Tom Gulliver
Video editors: Amber Akaunu and Alessandro Sorenti
Theme music: Theo Elwell
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
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The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
Welcome back to 'Stories in Colour'! And welcome to the first episode of our new miniseries in which we'll be telling the story of a rare, sparkling and glistening colour – or should we say material?
Join Nelly von Aderkas from the National Gallery’s Scientific department and host Beks as they dive into the ancient origins of gold! From colliding supernovas to the tomb of Tutankhamun and the man with the Midas touch, we will be exploring the materiality of gold, where this precious metal comes from and its symbolism in art and literature.
Nelly is a Specialist Scientist and Organic Analyst at the National Gallery with a background in paintings conservation.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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🎨 Find out more about the artworks in this episode:
Duccio, 'The Virgin and Child with Saint Dominic and Saint Aurea, and Patriarchs and Prophets', about 1312-15 (?). The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/duccio-the-virgin-and-child-with-saints-dominic-and-aurea
Jacopo di Cione, 'The Crucifixion', about 1369-70. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jacopo-di-cione-the-crucifixion
'Close up of a gold nugget'. Photo by Marko Ivanov via UnSplash https://unsplash.com/photos/a-close-up-of-a-gold-nugget-eLeXwRx4ALs
'Golden death mask of Tutankhamun', 2005. Photo by Rosemary Calvert via Getty Images https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/golden-death-mask-of-tutankhamun-royalty-free-image/200009494-001?adppopup=true
'Cartonnage Mummy Case', c. 50 BCE–50 CE. The Cleveland Museum of Art https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1914.715
'Coffin of Bakenmut', c. 1000–900 BCE. The Cleveland Museum of Art https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1914.561
Nicolas Poussin, 'Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus', ca. 1627. The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437328
Jean-François de Troy, 'The Capture of the Golden Fleece', 1742-3. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jean-francois-de-troy-the-capture-of-the-golden-fleece
Nicolas Poussin, 'The Adoration of the Golden Calf', 1633-4. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/nicolas-poussin-the-adoration-of-the-golden-calf
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Further reading:
Discover more on gold in the National Gallery’s collection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diJUaHMnazU
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y6T7IfNAc1jMa_zMoX231MX
Find out more about gold in Jacopo di Cione’s 'The Crucifixion': https://artsandculture.google.com/story/4gUB2kjMQI3paA
Find out more about Tutankhamun's Golden Burial Mask: https://gem.eg/en/collection/artefacts/the-golden-burial-mask-of-tutankhamun
Find out more about Tutankhamun's coffins: https://egypt-museum.com/innermost-coffin-of-tutankhamun/
Take a look at Egyptian coffins in the Fitzwilliam Museum: https://egyptiancoffins.org/coffin-catalogue
Cennino Cennini, 'Il libro dell'arte', written late 14th century
Kassia St Clair, 'The Secret Lives of Colour', 2016
J.R.R. Tolkein, 'The Hobbit', 1937
Apollonius Rhodius, 'Argonautica', written around 3rd century BC
[Author unknown], 'Beowulf', [date unknown]
Ovid, 'Metamorphoses', composed around 8th century AD
Stephen Fry, 'Troy: The Greek Myths Reimagined', 2021
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Episode credits:
Guest: Nelly von Aderkas
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Timothy Carpenter
Video Producer: Jeanne Kenyon
Video Editor: Alessandro Sorenti
Theme music: Theo Elwell
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Follow us on social media!
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⭐️ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@nationalgallery
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Help keep the museum accessible for everyone by supporting us here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/support-us
The world's greatest paintings to your inbox. Sign up to receive the latest news from the Gallery: https://bit.ly/3m0FY98
The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
Welcome to a new miniseries of Stories in Colour. The National Gallery’s vibrant podcast returns to tell the story of a rare, sparkling and glistening colour – or should we say material?
It's been called the tears of the gods, the sweat of the sun, a barbaric relic and a universal language. Join us as we trace the use of gold across the ages! From the tombs of Ancient Egypt to Renaissance altarpieces, all the way to a currently missing golden toilet.
‘Stories in Colour’ is a podcast from the National Gallery telling the histories of one of the most vibrant and influential technologies. These are the stories of how colour has changed the world.
Hear from curators, scientists, historians, artists, and more experts, to look at humanity’s efforts to make colour and make meaning with it.
Along the way, see – and hear – the National Gallery’s paintings in a whole new spectrum of light.
🎨 Find out more about [the painting]:
🖌️ Find out more about [Artist name]:
#NationalGallery #ArtHistory #Hashtag
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Follow us on social media!
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Help keep the museum accessible for everyone by supporting us here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/support-us
The world's greatest paintings to your inbox. Sign up to receive the latest news from the Gallery: https://bit.ly/3m0FY98
The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
What exactly is a rainbow and how is it formed? Why does it have seven colours? And what have rainbows symbolised in mythologies and art?
Join colour expert Dr Alexandra Loske, National Gallery Principal Scientist Joseph Padfield and National Gallery host Beks Leary as they cover rainbows from Noah’s Ark to Olafur Eliasson, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon to Georges Seurat’s ‘The Rainbow’ study.
Alexandra is a colour expert, writer, art historian and museum curator. Her exhibition 'Colour: A Chromatic Promenade through the Royal Pavilion' is on display at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton until October 2025.
Joseph is a Principal Scientist at the National Gallery. He brings a wealth of expertise across multiple domains, including preventive conservation, museum lighting, colour science and the technical examination of paintings.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
_______
To take our short survey about the podcast please visit: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
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🎨 Find out more about the paintings mentioned in this episode:
Jan Van Eyck, ‘The Annunciation’, about 1434/1436. National Gallery of Art, Washington https://www.nga.gov/artworks/46-annunciation
Bartolomé Bermejo, ‘Saint Michael Triumphs over the Devil’, 1468. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/bartolome-bermejo-saint-michael-triumphs-over-the-devil
Georges Seurat, ‘The Rainbow: Study for 'Bathers at Asnières'’, 1883. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/georges-seurat-the-rainbow-study-for-bathers-at-asnieres
Further reading:
Alexandra Loske, Colour: A Visual History, 2019
Find out more about the exhibition ‘Colour: A Chromatic Promenade through the Royal Pavilion’ at The Royal Pavilion, Brighton: https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/event/colour/
Isaac Newton, Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light, 1704
Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ album art: http://www.hipgnosiscovers.com/pinkfloyd/darksideofthemoon.html
Find out more about Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Your Rainbow Panorama’ (2011): https://www.aros.dk/en/art/the-collection/olafur-eliasson-your-rainbow-panorama-2011/
Find out more about the work of Andy Goldsworthy: https://andygoldsworthystudio.com/
Find out more about Hiroshi Sugimoto’s works ‘Opticks’: https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/polarized-color-1
Find out more about artist and writer David Batchelor: https://www.davidbatchelor.co.uk/works/installations/
Find out more about Constable and solar geometry: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/in-focus/salisbury-cathedral-constable/reassessing-the-rainbow
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Follow us on social media!
⭐️ Instagram: https://instagram.com/nationalgallery
⭐️ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nationalgallerylondon
⭐️ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/thenationalgallery/
⭐️ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@nationalgallery
⭐️ X, formerly Twitter: https://twitter.com/NationalGallery
Help keep the museum accessible for everyone by supporting us here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/support-us
The world's greatest paintings to your inbox. Sign up to receive the latest news from the Gallery: https://bit.ly/3m0FY98
The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
Why do we see purple as the colour of royalty? It all starts on the Mediterranean coast with some unassuming, and eventually very unfortunate, seasnails.
Travel back to ancient times with colour specialist Victoria Finlay and National Gallery host Beks Leary to trace the story of Tyrian purple through time.
Victoria has written several books about colour – including 'Colour, Travels through the Paintbox' and 'The Brilliant History of Color in Art' – which involved travelling across the globe to the very places that ancient pigments and dyes came from. Her most recent book is about the hidden histories of fabric.
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode of 'Stories in Colour': http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Watch your next episode of 'Stories in Colour': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y5oKGCTKesXyO-LR3f2XcZF
You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
Find out more about the podcast on our website: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
_______
To take our short survey about the podcast please visit: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast
_______
🎨 Find out more about the artworks mentioned in this episode:
Raphael, ‘The Dream of a Knight’, about 1504. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/raphael-the-dream-of-a-knight
Lorenzo Costa, 'Portrait (supposed to be of Battista Fiera)', 1490-5. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/lorenzo-costa-portrait-supposed-to-be-of-battista-fiera
Master of the Bruges Passion Scenes, 'Christ presented to the People', about 1510. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/master-of-the-bruges-passion-scenes-christ-presented-to-the-people
Further reading:
Victoria Finlay, Color: A Natural History of the Palette, 2002
Victoria Finlay, Colour: Travels through the Paintbox, 2002
Victoria Finlay, The Brilliant History of Color in Art, 2014
Victoria Finlay, Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World, 2021
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, composed around 2nd century AD
Find out more about the Tito Bustillo Cave here: https://www.centrotitobustillo.com/en/cueva-tito-bustillo
Julius Pollox, Onomasticon, composed around 2nd century AD
Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis [Natural History], published around 77 AD
Find out more about the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy: https://www.turismo.ra.it/en/culture-and-history/religious-buildings/basilica-san-vitale/
Silius Italicus, Punica, composed around the late 1st century AD – see Book XV for the passage on Scipio’s choice
Find out more about technical analysis of Raphael’s ‘The Dream of a Knight’ in the National Gallery’s Technical Bulletin: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/technical-bulletin/roy_spring_plazzotta2004
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Episode Credits:
Guest: Victoria Finlay
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Tom Gulliver
Editor: Jeanne Kenyon and Paul Frankl
Theme music: Theo Elwell
🎞 Subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss a video: http://bit.ly/1HrNTFd
Follow us on social media!
⭐️ Instagram: https://instagram.com/nationalgallery
⭐️ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nationalgallerylondon
⭐️ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/thenationalgallery/
⭐️ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@nationalgallery
⭐️ X, formerly Twitter: https://twitter.com/NationalGallery
Help keep the museum accessible for everyone by supporting us here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/support-us
The world's greatest paintings to your inbox. Sign up to receive the latest news from the Gallery: https://bit.ly/3m0FY98
The National Gallery houses the national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The museum is free of charge and open 361 days per year, daily between 10am - 6pm and on Fridays between 10am - 9pm.
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