By Kassia St. Clair

The unforgettable, unknown history of colors and the vivid stories behind them

Favorite quote: Chrome Yellow: When Vincent Van Gogh was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his hero, Paul Gauguin, he wrote to his brother Theo that he wanted everything to be perfect. He began working on a series of sunflower paintings, with which he planned to cover his whole studio. He told Theo he was painting them ‘with the gusto of a Marseillais eating bouillabaisse,’ and he hoped they would be a symphony of ‘harsh or broken yellows’ and blues, ‘from the palest Veronese to royal blue, framed with thin lathes painted in orange lead.’

From the publisher: The Secret Lives of Color tells the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes, and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso’s blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green, and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history.

In this book, Kassia St. Clair has turned her lifelong obsession with colors and where they come from (whether Van Gogh’s chrome yellow sunflowers or punk’s fluorescent pink) into a unique study of human civilization. Across fashion and politics, art and war, the secret lives of color tell the vivid story of our culture.

Dimensions: 5.25 x 5.5 in / 320 pages

Hardcover