Sea snails, bugs and deadly wallpaper - new podcast from the National Gallery reveals hidden histories of colour and their role in its paintings

Launching today, a new podcast by the National Gallery explores how pigments and dyes have been made - including the use of Mediterranean sea snails and Latin American bugs - and how international trade networks, legislation and even espionage have affected the spread and use of colour around the world. 

Although today we have access to over 16 million digital colours, and modern chemistry can produce a huge range of stable pigments for every hue imaginable, this has not always been the case. Stories in Colour explores the hidden histories woven into colour from antiquity to the present day. 

In eight episodes, host Beks Leary from the Gallery’s Digital department talks to experts from the Gallery and beyond, including curators, scientists, historians and artists, about the ways in which colour has changed the world, artistically, religiously and scientifically and more.

This new podcast continues on from the popularity of the National Gallery's Science of Colour YouTube series and the 2014 Making Colour exhibition, the first of its kind in the UK.   

The first two episodes are available from today (Wednesday 28 May). In episode one, Professor Anya Hurlbert from Newcastle University joins to examine whether we all see the same colours, and in episode two, colour specialist Evie Hatch discusses the first modern synthetic pigment, Prussian blue, and its accidental discovery.

Other guests in the 'Stories in Colour' first series include historian and novelist Amy Butler Greenfield, Colour Club founder Zeynep Sagir, cultural historian Kassia St Clair, artist David Batchelor, writer Victoria Finlay, curator Dr Alexandra Loske and National Gallery Principal Scientist Joseph Padfield. 

Beks Leary, Senior Content Manager, says: ‘Our guests on this podcast series have opened up the world of colour to me from all their different perspectives as historians, scientists, artists, curators and colour specialists. Being able to sit down with them and have a really good chat to hear their amazing stories has been such a privilege.’

Lawrence Chiles, Head of Digital, says: ‘We know podcasts are a brilliant way to reach people, so we’re excited to launch this new series. We hope it brings fresh voices into the mix, sparks new ways of thinking about our paintings, and helps more people feel inspired, connected, and part of the National Gallery story.’

'Stories in Colour' is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Notes to editors

Image © The National Gallery, London

'Stories in Colour': Series one consists of eight 50-minute episodes.

The first and second episodes will be available from 28 May, with releases scheduled every Wednesday until  9 July, see the schedule below:

The National Gallery is one of the greatest art galleries in the world. Founded by Parliament in 1824, the Gallery houses the nation’s collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the late 13th to the early 20th century. The collection includes works by Artemisia Gentileschi, Bellini, Cezanne, Degas, Leonardo, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Van Dyck, Van Gogh and Velázquez. The Gallery’s key objectives are to care for and enhance the collection and provide the best possible access to visitors. Admission free. 
 
On 10 May 2024 the National Gallery reached its 200th birthday, and the start of our Bicentenary celebration, a year-long festival of art, creativity and imagination, marking two centuries of bringing people and paintings together. 

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