Colour and culture : practice and meaning from antiquity to abstraction

Unfamiliar texts from all periods are featured, from the treatise that inspired Van Gogh to physicians' scales of hair and urine colours, and fresh light is thrown on the hidden meanings of many familiar masterpieces.

The 20th century is often called the period when colour has finally come into its own.

This is an attempt to examine what this claim means, and to suggest answers to many perennial questions about the role of colour.