Another really good day out. Relies heavily on contributions from the national Gallery scientific department.

A whistle stop tour of how and when paint/pigments were discovered / synthesised and the effect this has on art. For example, ultramarine used to be the main source of blue. It was extremely expensive (more so than Gold) so was naturally used to colour the most important people in paintings like the Virgin Mary. Hence her seemingly obligatory blue robes.

There was also a brilliant section at the end about colour perception both for those of us with “normal” colour perception and those with “colour blindness” which as my friend Sam has argued many times is not colour blindness at all but altered colour perception. He still sees colour but comparative descriptions suggest he does not see them in the same way as his girlfriend or I. But then how do you actually know that anyone sees something the same way as you….

A fascinating exhibition and I shall use the colour theory introduction in my patchwork and knitting colour choices.