THE TRUE COLOURS OF ART

What was Raffaello’s palette like? Or Cezanne’s? How come we have to stop at a red traffic light? Did Newton really see seven colours in the rainbow? Do colours have the same symbolic meaning in different cultures?

Colours are everywhere around us, from art to fashion, to industry, marketing, or make up. But the pigments, those mysterious substances, are rare and scarce. Most of them were discovered by chance, because Nature will not easily give away her secrets.

In time, man has produced pigments from virtually everything: leaves, roots, stones, berries, bones, even insects or clams, and the history of colours has become intertwined with the history of art, with technology and economy. Our voyage, taking inspiration mainly from the rich Italian heritage, will unveil secret meanings, strange recipes, curiosities, nuances, in an intriguing tale, from paleolithic wall paintings to contemporary art.