Stories in Colour

Welcome to Stories in Colour! We're starting at the very beginning to ask an age-old question: are the colours you see, the same as the colours I see?

Join Professor Anya Hurlbert from Newcastle University and National Gallery host Beks Leary as they ask whether colour is real and how exactly we see it, stopping off to look at paintings from the National Gallery along the way. We go back to the viral dress that divided the internet in 2015 – was it blue and black, or was it white and gold? This was the moment so many of us discovered that colour is our own – in Anya’s words – personal possession.

Anya is a Professor of Visual Neuroscience and Dean of Advancement at Newcastle University. Her research focuses on human visual perception: how and why we see what we see. As Scientist Trustee at the National Gallery from 2010-2018, she worked with us on our 2014 ‘Making Colour’ exhibition – bringing together art and science to explain how artists overcame the technical challenges involved in creating colour.

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Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/gYTWp_iLRh4

You can email us with any questions via [email protected]

Find out more about the podcast on our website: www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast

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Paintings mentioned:

Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Fighting Temeraire, 1839. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-fighting-temeraire

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Skiff (La Yole), 1875. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/pierre-auguste-renoir-the-skiff-la-yole

Claude Monet, Stacks of Wheat (End of Summer), 1890–91. The Art Institute of Chicago https://www.artic.edu/artworks/64818/stacks-of-wheat-end-of-summer

Claude Monet, Stacks of Wheat (Sunset, Snow Effect), 1890–91. The Art Institute of Chicago https://www.artic.edu/artworks/81545/stacks-of-wheat-sunset-snow-effect

Claude Monet, Stacks of Wheat (End of Day, Autumn), 1890–91. The Art Institute of Chicago https://www.artic.edu/artworks/14624/stacks-of-wheat-end-of-day-autumn

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, 1894. National Gallery of Art, Washington https://www.nga.gov/artworks/46524-rouen-cathedral-west-facade

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, Sunlight, 1894. National Gallery of Art, Washington https://www.nga.gov/artworks/46654-rouen-cathedral-west-facade-sunlight

Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1888. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, Combing the Hair ('La Coiffure'), about 1896. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hilaire-germain-edgar-degas-combing-the-hair-la-coiffure

Paul Gauguin, Bowl of Fruit and Tankard before a Window, probably 1890. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/paul-gauguin-bowl-of-fruit-and-tankard-before-a-window

Further reading:

Various authors, Colour in Nature, 2024

Curators in Conversation: Making Colour, 2014 https://youtu.be/YJVBaCWj-1Y?si=1KpDGmJPQNiyiWqO

Find out more about Claude Monet’s series paintings: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/monet-s-rouen-painting-series-the-national-gallery-london/2gXhjhmKqfavLg?hl=en

Find out more about the blue and gold dress: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2015/11/isthecolouryouseethesamecolourasisee/

To learn more about the science of colour visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvb2y26xK6Y4V3T1xHphum23El4b93YzC

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Episode credits:

Guest: Professor Anya Hurlbert

Host and executive producer: Beks Leary

Producer: Harry Rosehill

Researcher: Hannah Rogers

Technicians: Ian Warren, Tom Gulliver and Timothy Carpenter

Editors: Jeanne Kenyon and Paul Frankl

Theme music: Theo Elwell

How has colour changed the world? A vibrant new podcast from the National Gallery, Stories in Colour launches with our first two episodes on Wednesday 28 May 2025.

The Times ★★★★ ‘There’s lots to enjoy here.’ 

In each episode, we uncover the hidden mysteries woven into colour from antiquity to the present day. 

Along the way, you'll hear from curators, scientists, historians, artists, and more experts, looking at humanity’s efforts to make colour and make meaning with it. 

And amongst these stories, you will see - and hear - the National Gallery’s paintings in a whole new spectrum of light.