What is the main message of Color?

Through fascinating stories, Color explores the history, significance, and cultural impact of different colors.

How long does it take to read Color?

Color can be read in a few hours. The Blinkist summary of Color takes just 15 minutes to read.

Who is the author of Color?

Victoria Finlay is the author of Color.

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Color Book Summary - Color Book explained in key points

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Name: Color
Rating: 4.3 (33 reviews)
Author: Victoria Finlay

Victoria Finlay

A Natural History of the Palette

4.3 (33 ratings)

17 mins

Brief summary

Color by Victoria Finlay takes readers on a journey to uncover the fascinating history, science, and cultural significance behind different colors. From precious gems to natural dyes, this book explores how colors have shaped our world.

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Color
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Learn why the world around us features such vibrant color.

Most of us don’t spend too much time wondering what exactly gives rouge or cherry lollipops such a vibrant and intense red color. That may be just as well, because, as it turns out, one of the most common ingredients in red dyes is the blood of thousands of insects. Meanwhile, Napoleon’s infamous demise could be linked to a poison found in green paint.

Who knew there was so much power, politics and death mixed up in the luscious hues we admire on each others’ lips or the vivid shades we roll onto a canvas? These blinks will show you how the vibrant colors of everyday objects have complex and fascinating histories of their own.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

why yellowish-brown was the first color of paint;
what goes into that special sparkle of a glass in paintings by the Dutch masters; and
how bullets came to alter yellow pigments during the Vietnam War.

Ochre was the earliest color of paint and it remains an important shade to this day.

Have you ever seen pictures of prehistoric cave paintings, such as those at Lascaux or Altamira? They’re truly wondrous designs, but you may have noticed that their color palette is quite restricted. There’s a good reason for this.

The artists who created these cave paintings mostly used ochre, a naturally occurring pigment that ranges in color from earthy brown to yellow to red depending on the sort of iron oxide present.

Ochre was unearthed and used long before all other kinds of paint were discovered or circulated widely, and it has long been cherished as a result. According to the Roman encyclopedist Pliny the Elder, the rocks around Sinope on the Black Sea were the best source for ochre, but the pigment is found in many other regions as well.

For example, the native peoples of North America used the pigment on their skin, believing it protected them against evil spirits. It also repelled flying insects in the summer months and protected their skin against biting winter winds. In fact, painting their skin is probably why white colonists gave them the derogatory name “red Indians” or “redskins.”

Ochre continues to play an important role in modern aboriginal art, and some of the best examples can be found in Australia.

The author headed to Alice Springs in Northern Australia to see these works of art in their natural setting. Many Aboriginal artists still work with ochre, especially those from the Australia’s Central Desert Region.

These works are often given mystical titles, such as Two Snakes Dreaming, and their composition is similarly mystical. Ochre paintings often include patterns of dots, waves and circles, with each of these shapes carrying a significant meaning. Circles may represent water holes in the desert, ovals may represent shields and wavy lines may depict people sitting around a fire.

As you can see, Ochre is an ancient color and has been daubed on skin, stone and canvas – but it's just the start of our journey into colors.

White paint was popular, deadly and somewhat revolting.

All kinds of objects have been used to make white paint, including chalk, fossilized sea creatures and rice, none of which were particularly effective. Historically, the most popular white paint was made with a far more dangerous ingredient: lead.

European artists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries loved lead white. Its color was so pure that it was used to highlight details, such as the reflection on a silver jar, or the glimmer in someone’s eye. Lead white was especially favored by the Dutch School, which included artists such as Vermeer and Rembrandt.

Red carmine is powerful when first applied to a canvas, but gradually fades.

When you're in an art gallery, it’s easy to imagine that you’re seeing the paintings as they were originally created by their artists – but this isn’t entirely accurate.

Take, for example, the great English landscape painter Joseph Mallord William Turner, or more specifically, his 1835 piece Waves Breaking Against the Wind. While it depicts a rather unsettling gray sunset, it’s really just the ravages of time at work. Turner originally used a bright red paint called carmine, but the pigment lost its luster over time.

A widespread yellow pigment comes from Asia, but its purity hasn’t always been consistent.

Think of the imports from the Far East and you’ll probably recall the Silk Road, the route by which materials and spices were transported across continents.

Among these products was a pigment known in Asia as ivy yellow, one of the oldest shades of yellow. Confusingly, this pigment comes from the tree Garcinia hanburyi, and not actually from ivy. The garcinia tree is related to the mango, but instead of a delicious fruit, it produces a highly sought-after resin.

Napoleon’s death may be attributable to the arsenic used in green paint.

Arsenic’s use as a poison is well known, featuring prominently in detective fiction. But even the most imaginative crime author wouldn’t have connected its use in paint to a Napoleonic mystery.

This particular historical conundrum arose shortly after Napoleon’s death in 1821, when one of his doctors took a few strands of his hair.

True ultramarine blue is highly coveted in many cultures and remains very valuable.

The National Gallery in London is home to Michelangelo’s painting, The Entombment (1501). Beautiful though it is, there’s an odd blank section in the bottom right-hand corner. Experts believe that he had saved the spot to paint a kneeling Virgin Mary. The problem was, Mary is traditionally depicted wearing blue clothing, and since blue paint was so expensive at the time, Michelangelo probably couldn’t afford to paint her.

Beautiful, deep blue paint is extremely expensive because it has to be extracted from lapis lazuli, a rare semiprecious stone found in Asia, and especially in Afghanistan.

Indigo dye extracted from plants was used by the ancient Britons in battle.

These days, getting a tattoo might seem trendy, but it’s not a new thing.

Just consider indigo dye, which Britons used to paint themselves before battle. We know they did this because the Romans observed them doing it when Julius Caesar first conquered the region, and when they did it again in the first century AD.

Purple is the most imperial of colors, and even played a role in the courtship of Caesar and Cleopatra.

Though every color has a story to tell, no color carries the same glamor and historical clout as purple.

In fact, purple was even a factor in the romance between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, ruler of Egypt. In 49 BC, Cleopatra organized a party for Caesar to celebrate his victories over his former ally Pompey. Like all the best parties, this one had a color scheme. Purple stones littered the palace, and the sails of Cleopatra's boat were colored purple. Even the palatial curtains and soft furnishings were dyed purple.

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What is Color about?

Color: A Natural History of the Palette (2002) tells the intriguing and odd stories connected to the discovery of pigments and the use of paints. From the prehistoric use of ochre in cave drawings to the outlawing of white paint in the twentieth century, these blinks are full of surprising, colorful information.

Color Review

Color (2002) by Victoria Finlay is a captivating exploration of the incredible stories behind the colors we see in our everyday lives. Here's why this book is worth reading:

Full of fascinating historical anecdotes, it uncovers the hidden tales of how different colors were discovered and used throughout time.
With a mix of scientific research and personal travel experiences, the author's journey adds a personal touch and makes the book both informative and relatable.
By delving into the cultural and emotional significance of colors, the book offers a new lens through which to view art, history, and our own perceptions of the world.

Who should read Color?

People curious about how humans perceive the world around them
Seasoned or aspiring graphic designers, illustrators and photographers
Anyone interested in art history

About the Author

Victoria Finlay was born in Britain and works as a journalist in Hong Kong. She was arts editor at the South China Morning Post for four years before embarking on her own research into color. This is her first book.

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