Stories in Colour

You might have heard of men like Isaac Newton or Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but who were the pioneering women writing on colour theory?
To answer that question, we’re joined by cultural historian Alexandra Loske and The Colour Club founder Zeynep Sagir. Together, they uncover the lives of figures like Martha Gartside, Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Carry van Biema.
From intricate colour grids to radical visual experiments, we study the work, stories and lasting legacies of these women – revealing how their influence is being recognised today.
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Alexandra is a colour expert, art historian and museum curator. Her exhibition 'Colour: A Chromatic Promenade through the Royal Pavilion' was on display at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton in 2025. She is also author of 'The Artist's Palette' and 'Colour: A Visual History'.
Zeynep is an artist, colour consultant, and founder of The Colour Club. Through The Colour Club, Zeynep runs workshops, hosts events, and offers consultancy, as well as publishing articles and interviews.
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Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YK3CVlqDe4
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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Additional note:
Since this episode was recorded, Alexandra has undertaken some additional research into Mary Gartside and has found that her name was Martha Gartside.
Find out more about Martha Gartside and Alexandra’s research here: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/69706
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/centres/centre-for-life-history-and-life-writing-research/research/projects/lives-in-colour
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Paintings mentioned:
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Fighting Temeraire’, 1839 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-fighting-temeraire
Angelica Kauffman RA, 'Colouring', 1778-80. Oil on canvas. 1260 mm x 1485 mm x 25 mm. © Royal Academy of Arts, London; photographer: John Hammond. (RA ref. 03/1130) https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/colour
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Further reading:
Alexandra Loske, ‘The Artist's Palette: The Palettes Behind the Paintings of 50 Great Artists’, 2024 [Book]
Alexandra Loske, ‘Colour: A Visual History’, 2019 [Book]
Find out more about ‘The Colour Club’: https://www.thecolourclub.co.uk/
Isaac Newton, ‘Opticks: A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light’, 1704 [Book] https://wellcomecollection.org/works/d445akky/items
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ‘Zur Farbenlehre', 1810 [Book]
George Sharf, ‘Allen's shop in St Martin's Lane [...]’, 1829. Watercolour © The British Museum, London https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1862-0614-119
Roy Osborne, ‘Books on Colour 1495-2015: History and Bibliography’, 2020 [Book]
Cennino Cennini, ‘Il Libro dell’arte’, produced around late 14th century [Book]
Alexandra Loske, ‘Mary Gartside: A female colour theorist in Georgian England’, St Andrews Journal of Art History and Museum Studies, Vol.14, 2010 [Journal article] https://ojs.st-andrews.ac.uk/index.php/nsr/article/download/234/261
Mary Gartside, ‘Essay on Light and Shade’, 1805 [Book] https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1756677/an-essay-on-light-and-book-gartside-mary/
Mary Gartside, ‘An Essay on a New Theory of Colours and on Composition in General’, 1808 [Book] https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1756676/an-essay-on-a-new-book-mary-gartside/
Emily Noyes Vanderpoel, ‘Color Problems: A Practical Manual for the Lay Student of Color’, 1902 [Book] https://archive.org/details/colorproblemspra00vand/page/n1/mode/2up
Caroline van Biema, ‘Farben und Formen als lebendige Kräfte’, 1930 [Book] https://www.staatsgalerie.de/de/sammlung-digital/farben-und-formen-lebendige-kraefte
Bonnie E. Snow and Hugo B. Froehlich, ‘The theory and practice of color’, 1928 [Book]
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Episode credits:
Guests: Dr Alexandra Loske and Zeynep Sagir
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: Oli Mason
Theme music: Theo Elwell

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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Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iOg5ICy090
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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Paintings mentioned:
Édouard Manet, ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère’, 1882 © Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust) https://gallerycollections.courtauld.ac.uk/object-p-1934-sc-234
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 Rubens’s ‘The Judgement of Paris’ here: 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

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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Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddv3yLM6VeQ
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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Paintings mentioned:
Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope, ‘Sir William Henry Perkin’, 1906. © National Portrait Gallery, London https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw04955/Sir-William-Henry-Perkin?_gl=1*n8r8uw*_up*MQ..*_ga*NDE2MjgwNzAxLjE3NzgwNzkyNDc.*_ga_3D53N72CHJ*czE3NzgwNzkyNDYkbzEkZzAkdDE3NzgwNzkyNDYkajYwJGwwJGgw
John Phillip, ‘The Marriage of Victoria, Princess Royal, 25 January 1858’, Signed and dated 1860 © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2026 | Royal Collection Trust https://www.rct.uk/collection/406819/the-marriage-of-victoria-princess-royal-25-january-1858
Claude Monet, ‘Irises’, About 1914-17 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/claude-monet-irises
Shawn Michael Warren, ‘Oprah Winfrey’, 2023 © National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution / Courtesy of the artist https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2023.37?destination=edan-search/default_search%3Fedan_local%3D1%26edan_q%3Doprah
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Further reading:
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
Science Museum, ‘The secret origins of purple dye’, 2019 [YouTube video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7JCMxq7DU8
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]
Explore 'Monet's Palette in the Twentieth Century: 'Water-Lilies' and 'Irises'’ in the National Gallery's Technical Bulletin, 2007: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/technical-bulletin/roy2007
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

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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Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXdv6XZoJBE
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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Paintings mentioned:
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
Abraham Mignon, ‘Still Life with Flowers and a Watch’, About 1660-79 © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/Still-Life-with-Flowers-and-a-Watch--7404dc80eb5bfc4161ed6ccf454e293f?tab=data
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Further reading:
Pliny the Elder, ‘Natural History’ [Book]
Find out more about Plutarch’s version of the tale of King Midas in "On Superstition" from ‘Moralia’, produced about 100 AD [Essay]
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’s Technical Bulletin, 2013: 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 here: 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

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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Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lOs0_Yi-G8
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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Paintings mentioned:
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 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