Decoding paintings through colour
6/17/202646 min
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.
-------
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).
-------
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
-------
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
-------
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
-------
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
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBex Leary· Host0:00
[gentle music] "Color allows artists to express their individuality, evoke certain moods, and portray positive or negative subliminal messages. And throughout history, the greatest of artists have experimented with new pigments and new technologies to lead movements and deliver masterpieces. But as something so cardinal, we sometimes forget how poignant color palettes can be and how much they can tell us." That is a quote from the summary of the book Colors of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Palettes by Chloe Ashby. So welcome to Stories in Color, a podcast from the National Gallery here in London, where we're uncovering the mysteries of color in culture, art, and history. Do make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss any episodes. Today, we're looking at how we can read color in paintings. How do the colors the artists choose and the way each of us see them help us to find a story? I'm Bex Leary from the digital department here at the gallery, and to help us answer this question, I'm joined by Chloe Ashby. So can we think of color as a kind of language?
Chloe Ashby· Guest1:15
Yes, absolutely. I think color is a language like any other. Um, the way that artists have used it changes according to time and place. Um, it's something that can be