The library of rare colors

The Forbes Pigment Collection at the Harvard Art Museums is a collection of pigments, binders, and other art materials for researchers to use as standards: so they can tell originals from restorations from forgeries. It's not open to the public, because it's a working research library -- and because some of the pigments in there are rare, historic, or really shouldn't be handled by anyone untrained.
More about the Forbes Pigment Collection: www.harvardartmuseums.org/art...
The Harvard Art Museums: www.harvardartmuseums.org/
Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin)
Audio mix by Graham Haerther haerther.net/
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[@TomScottGo]

I realised, after filming this, that it feels a little weird to have my introduction outside the Museum and the interview inside. But I'm weeks out of Boston now, so it has to stand!

[@wongmjane]

>1 week ago

[@mug1wara262]

how long ago did you flim this and why did you put this 1 week ago

[@mvwinf]

I didn’t think it was weird!

[@cheersluv5510]

It feels like you're just pointing out a fact as you happen to walk past it, and not like you're about to go inside

[@anto687]

Works just fine, gives a general location then the interview!

[@acrouzet]

3:17 "Lead white is toxic in the way that lead is...toxic." Best quote in the video.

[@gonaldocr24]

You can tell its an Aspen by the way it is

[@TheVergile]

well, its a reasonable observation. Some lead compounds arent toxic at all (for example if the lead is bound in a very stable way). Some lead compounds are toxic, but in a different way (due to a different mechanism) than pure lead.

[@veloriders]

@@TheVergile True. My mouth has a lot of mercury in it.

[@Azivegu]

Instructions not clear, rubbed lead white over my phallus.

[@anderslolle2147]

The mummi brown was really funny too 😂

[@kieran461]

This feels like something someone would start as a hobby, and somehow turned it into a job.

[@jl721ATcairn]

The pigment library or the channel?

[@GabyGeorge1996]

I have a feeling they’re referring to the pigment collection; but I also feel like the statement is equally applicable to the channel

[@jl721ATcairn]

@@GabyGeorge1996 kind of my point

[@GabyGeorge1996]

John Lasher touché

[@dustinwheat4096]

As it should be. Passion will keep you driven for decades

[@cosmicjenny4508]

Imagine dying, being mummified, and then thousands of years later, getting mushed up and put on a canvas. There’s donating your body to science, and then there’s whatever this is...

[@PhoenixClank]

Donating your body to art?

[@Howtard]

I don't think it could be called "donating" in general, I doubt anybody thought to ask them for informed consent for paint-making in their lifetimes.

[@Ellyerre]

Well, it's not as bad as being eaten as medicine which happened in Europe during the 12th to 16th century.

[@peter_smyth]

Do you mean dyeing?

[@theotherwalt]

I want to know how the idea of using mummified remains as a pigment in a paint came about.... Did someone dig up a body for some other reason and think, "that is a really nice color."?

[@billysmith6891]

Going straight from VantaBlack to showing Stuart Semple's Pinkest Pink and Diamond Dust was a move of pure classiness.

[@jezusmylord]

Now i get it, that is pure comedy genius

[@bab00shka48]

@@jezusmylord Stuart Semple is the definition of classy kiss my ass

[@finleydrage5066]

Omg yess I laughed at this so hard and my family looked at me weird

[@The-Silliest-Little-Guy]

​@jezusmylord i might be stupid but whats the joke?

[@crypticcorvid]

@@The-Silliest-Little-Guy Iirc, Anish Kapoor is an artist who bought the sole right to use the vantablack pigment, so in retaliation Stuart Semple (also an artist) created the pinkest pink and made it available for everyone EXCEPT Kapoor. Semple said he'd make pinkest pink available to Kapoor only when he allows other people to use vantablack. Semple also created diamond dust, which is supposed to be the most shiniest glitter.

[@Sypaka]

"When I was 18, i sloppily said: I rather collect colors then go to work" ... "50 years later, here I am, at this University. I am the Master of Colors and Pigmentresearch."

[@renzo6490]

You're still sloppy. :o)

[@The_Simple_Dj]

Cap

[@name89452]

@@The_Simple_Dj r/ wooosh

[@JohnnyArtPavlou]

❤❤❤

[@visassess8607]

@@name89452 What does cap mean and how did they miss a joke?

[@zappawoman5183]

I had a dream about a brand new colour I discovered! However, it turned out to be just a pigment of my imagination...

[@OrionMelodyMusic]

Oh, hi Dad!

[@daniellewillgruber2768]

Sighs. Take your upvote.

[@Lardum]

@@OrionMelodyMusic I did not hit her I did nooooot. Oh hi Dad

[@powpuck5031]

I see what hue did there

[@rkirke1]

I had an inkling there would be bad puns to follow. Seems to be making people madder..

[@psychosorcerer9438]

Glad to see Stuart's Pinkest Pink in there.

[@SteelSkin667]

I like that they showed them right after mentioning Vantablack.

[@ActualCharky]

I imagine he'd get a giggle out of that positioning

[@nazhif1]

glad im not the only one who's glad

[@kuronosan]

Haha, just had to get that shot of pinkest pink just after vantablack.

[@bookslug2919]

Just wait.... someone will try to market pink nanotubes for 'lady-scientists'

[@Jemima1377]

@@bookslug2919 You are not getting the point... ^_~

[@DrZaius3141]

@@jorgeamadosoriaramirez8953 No need to google it, just watch Tom's video on it.^^

[@camiblack1]

Not just that, but Diamond "Put Your Finger in This" Dust.

[@LilChuunosuke]

I was afraid the video wouldn't include shots of stuart semple's colors, but they did!

[@lucweerts4970]

I study chemistry and one of the best things is when your product turns a colour you have never seen. I had a liquid that was red from the top and green from the side, turns out it was the Tyndall effect.

[@pandakatiefominz]

I have a fountain pen ink that works something like that. It's a green ink with a red sheen. Jacques Herbin 1670 Anniversary Emerald de Chivor. It also shimmers gold

[@rickh3714]

Pthalocyanine blue was invented by chance. My dad once worked with the ICI scientist that discovered it. Monastral blue. An enamel dish had a crack in it which turned bright blue when holding a solution.

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

Tyndall... TO THE GOOGLEMOBILE! It definitely rings a bell but Chemistry is definitely my weakest science. :P Anything I should know that google won't tell me? Thank you for this knew knowledge. EDIT: Oh, yay! Structural colour! Butterfly wings and irises and biological photo-physics! (as I'm sure you already know) I probably heard of it around cuttlefish or chameleons. Now I have a fun fact: the vast majority of blues in the animal world are not pigment colour; they're structural colour. That's still real colour, of course (eat it, NatGeo), but it's all down to processes like the Tyndall effect instead of simple pigment-based absorption-vs-reflection.

[@gairisiuil]

makes me think of the shiny bits on US $10s and $20s that's iridescent because of copper particles

[@58mph48]

@@clockworkkirlia7475 Huh. I heard of it in relation to Japanese toilet humour.

[@mikaelagomez5424]

My favorite part of this video is seeing Stuart Semple's color creations featured immediately after the Anish Kapoor owned "Vanta-Black." If you're not aware of the awesomely petty but insanely entertaining feud between the two, please look it up.

[@sirgarberto]

came here looking for this, was not disappointed

[@TS6815]

i can't recall if this one came out before or after but Tom did an interview with Stuart regarding the feud and Pinkest Pink

[@sirgarberto]

@@TS6815 that was about two years (2017) before this (2019)

[@MH_VOID]

good reaction by Mr. Semple. Quite unethical for Mr. Kapoor to get exclusive access to it, unless it is only for a reasonably short period of time (certainly no more than a decade)

[@luviana_]

@@MH_VOID and this is exactly why I am against patents

[@MarkWTK]

colour exist artist: *gotta catch them all*

[@AngryKittens]

PETA: colors must be free!

[@Mr_Makina]

*gotta shade them all*

[@RafaelCouto]

now I just have to make a game about this.

[@J374338]

天吉Mark I’m gonna be the KARAA MASTAA!!

[@oceanfloor3524]

i am an artist, i can confirm

[@iabervon]

Someone else was commenting on vantablack that it was especially odd when it was on crinkled aluminum foil; it absorbs light so well that the foil looks flat because how it looks doesn't depend on the angle of the surface. It looks like a hole in reality or a rendering error rather than a paint color.

[@jimmurphy6095]

Someone had painted a ping pong ball with it and it looked like a hole in the Space-Time continuum when they held it up.

[@smartereveryday]

Awesome video.

[@WretchedHobbit]

Oof

[@dudebro3846]

Sup, Destin!

[@tammy9143]

seems like the algorithm chose me to watch this video now

[@siliconsulfide8]

k

[@nabibbs7937]

Hi destin

[@leonkoster01]

mummie brown = ground up mummie baby oil = ground up b..... wait what

[@cesariojpn]

Baby Oil is distilled Baby. Put them into a pressure cooker, and tap the resulting distillate.

[@Lyle-xc9pg]

Oh but its only late-term aborted fetuses

[@The_Jzoli]

@@cesariojpn Baby powder on the other hand...

[@torstengang5521]

I laughed. Am I bad person?

[@baconwizard]

Fred Austere no, we are terrible people

[@Axalon45]

Having a shot of Stuart Semple's "exclusive" dyes seconds after the bit on Vantablack was a class act that you may well never top, Tom. Well done.

[@SomeGuyCalledJ]

Stuart Semple's pink is really the pinkest pink I've ever seen (4:36), and is worth buying just to make pink things at home

[@LilChuunosuke]

It's insanely cheap as well, so it's worth investing in!

[@kanamekiyru]

I bought his pink and yellow just to see it in person. Camera doesn't do it justice

[@itaybron]

when you're not sure if you want to major in chemistry or art so you just do both

[@DasGanon]

"We have 60 different samples of Hematite" How awesome would it be if they eventually got a Hematite sample from Mars to add to the collection after some astronaut decides "Hey, I'm going to paint something out of paint I make myself"

[@Ezullof]

Hematite from Mars would probably be very abrasive, so not a good pigment. There are also probably many types of Martian hematites just like on Earth (well, technically Earth has a more diverse geology so not as many, but you get the point). Of course it's still cool if you can say something was painted with Martian pigments.

[@vladolkhovetsky1070]

Wonder if you can turn the moons regolith in to pigment, luner gray,

[@andreww2098]

@@vladolkhovetsky1070 One of the former Apollo astronauts Alan Bean painted pictures using moon dust and Apollo spacecraft parts

[@Abdega]

@vlad olkhovetsky They did that in the video game “Portal 2”

[@dewolen]

@@Abdega "The bean counters told me we literally could not afford to buy seven dollars worth of moon rocks, much less seventy million. Bought 'em anyway. Ground 'em up, mixed em into a gel. And guess what? Ground up moon rocks are pure poison. I am deathly ill." - Cave Johnson

[@neilsutcliffe5825]

I am fascinated by the extinction of Quinacridone Gold. It was discontinued as an artist grade pigment in 2018, as the automotive industry simply stopped using it, and it was no longer available to artists. Artists are a small percentage of the consumers of pigment and we simply get what other industries need.

[@mydogeatspuke]

PO49 stopped being used at the turn of the century in the automotive world, so it took almost 2 decades for the majority of the remaining supply to be used up. It's still available as a pigment, it just isn't commercially used to produce paint anymore, likely due to it being cost prohibitive to obtain in large quantities.

[@mukrifachri]

Chemistry lab storage + Art gallery. Interesting.

[@MICHGO1]

SO IS THE SUNLIGHT BRIGHTENING UP THE ROOM.

[@Z0mbieAnt]

Putting vantablack under a reflective glass plate kinda defeats it's purpose, doesn't it?

[@JNCressey]

Who would win? The world's blackest black, or the world's mirrorest mirror?

[@Ken_neThT]

There's a portion of it that isn't covered by the glass as seen in the video... I think

[@pauljones3017]

Not if you don't want people to start touching it.

[@suegaashoeseok4895]

@@JNCressey u mean 'one mirror boi'?

[@neolexiousneolexian6079]

Not really. Glass reflects quite a bit specularly, but it exhibits basically no diffuse illumination (because that light gets transmitted instead).

[@jpe1]

Tom, while you are at Harvard you might enjoy visiting the *Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants* (aka *Glass Flowers*). It’s one of those “has to be seen to be believed” things, pictures don’t do it justice. Amazing in detail, artistry, and scope, it’s both a teaching tool and a stunning artistic achievement.

[@Dinlitla]

Agree...that collection is remarkable!

[@ballinangel3231]

I've seen these! They are truly lovely!

[@stevepeaple9051]

It' so remarkable it's verges on ordinary. I was there a few years back and they are so perfect the collection starts looking like a room filled with random grasses. I also love those crystal rooms nearby. Wish I could see this collection.

[@jpe1]

@@stevepeaple9051 I will have to remember the phrase “so remarkable [that it] verges on ordinary.” I definitely get what you are saying there!

[@keinGenug]

I have a weird obsession with color and pigment, and this video was heaven for me

[@lawrencecalablaster568]

isaac grandas Me too :)

[@takarifan]

Yup, this is Color Mecca for me.

[@dennismitchell5276]

If I keep using egg tempra, I'm afraid I'll get that obsession.

[@irissupercoolsy]

i have been painting & drawing a lot most of my life, so same... I clicked on this video really fast

[@creativesolutions902]

Same… I got really giddy when I saw the title of this video

[@SheriLynNut]

As a graphic designer for 23 years, the colors in this video took my breath away- I stopped it and took about 100 screen shots! I’m so very happy there are people who have preserved this part of history, and those who continue to develop new material for us all to share. What a neat video, Thank you.

[@mydogeatspuke]

You never got into gouache or its close relative, watercolour? It seems to be the primary medium for graphic design, so it's strange to me that you'd be new to any of these colours.

[@amozinshade484]

​@@mydogeatspukein Graphic design, we studied different things, this knowledge is more related to fine art or illustration maybe.

[@mydogeatspuke]

@@amozinshade484 gouache is very popular if not THE standard in graphic design, and all of these colours are very prominent in that medium, as I already said.

[@amozinshade484]

@@mydogeatspuke Seriously? If you don't realize that other countries didn't have access to gouache or even the fact fine art knowledge hasn't been accessible, you lucked out. Again all you needed was at least decent quality paint and in my case it was acrylics, of course we learned color theory but pigment knowledge is again not really covered, probably mentioned but not really. When I studied graphic design it is mostly digital stuff, and a lot to deal with printing.

[@mydogeatspuke]

@@amozinshade484 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 all countries have access to gouache, stop being silly. Gouache is not a fine art material. Digital graphic design is incredibly modern, so all you're really doing is saying that you're too young to know anything about anything and that upsets you. Hardly my problem. Simmer down.

[@mateuszmalenta4570]

I recommend reading 'Secret Lives of Colour' by Kassia St Clair if anyone wants to read about origins and uses of some of the most popular and influential colours.

[@lars1588]

I just put it on hold at my local library. I should be able to pick it up soon. Thanks for the recommendation! I've been looking for some new, interesting reading material.

[@Tefans97]

thanks to Tom Scott for my win in a pub quiz last week, one of the questions was on mummy-based pigments, another about the 1904 olympic marathon (from citation needed). Couldn't have done it without him

[@TobiasRieper047]

This is amazing, I could spend countless days glancing around there at all the colors, knowing they all have their own story behind them. Its fascinating, we should cherish things like this and the people that do those jobs.

[@oliverp3545]

I'm thinking about their practical uses, there are so many models I could use.

[@tommegg8486]

When I see old blue pigment what can I think about is only how expensive they are

[@tommegg8486]

@LagiNaLangAko23 it's crazy expensive back then

[@KamuiPan]

Sure, look at the raw material and process of making it. Cobalt is not a soft material.

[@emilv.3693]

Purple was even more expensive

[@allangibson2408]

@@KamuiPan Ultramarine Blue has no cadmium in it. It is made by grinding up Lapis Lazuli gemstones from Afghanistan. Then as now, going to Afghanistan was bad for your health (for exactly the same reasons).

[@martijnvanweele6204]

3:20 *looks at a shade of brown on a canvas* "Are you my mummy?"

[@sloanemactire8780]

Props to the editor who put the B-roll of Pinkest Pink and Diamond Dust in right after talking about Vantablack. Brilliant!

[@eily_b]

Nice to see some Kremer Pigmente 3:47 on their shelves, too. Amazing company making pigments in Bavaria, Germany.

[@limebanter4603]

Mummy Brown is people!

[@TheGahta]

funnily enough, brown people

[@diamond_miner_8670]

is Soylent Green a shade of green? It better be or I'll be disappointed

[@futurestoryteller]

Interestingly that's said to be the reaction many people had to learning this news. Iirc artists knew, but the public was horrified, and that stymied the sale of "mummy brown" from that point forward.

[@rachele3334]

I love a good obscure movie reference, especially when I get the joke. 😂

[@aburningwalloftext8778]

When you didn’t have a skin color colored pencil:

[@michaelnelson2976]

I love this video, this is a perfect example of the things that matter out in the world in their own way that you shine light on Tom. Loving it.

[@evilpandakillabzonattkoccu4879]

I used to custom match paint colors manually (as opposed to using a color sensor and having a computer make the formula) for a couple paint stores and i fell in love with it! this collection is absolute heaven!! wow, i can only imagine the colors my monitor cant show accurately....

[@tazmon122]

it was a great pleasure to get closer than the average museum goer to this collection and see real deal what i'm working with as a painter. glad you got that opportunity as well, and put it up on youtube for the world to see.

[@LingTinaTV]

As an artist, it's amazing to look at the differences in consistently and how paint changes over time. It's fascinating that we now have things like the Pantone charts and grading to get exact shades and variations. Furthermore, there are modern digital tools that try and copy traditional looks and textures of classical mediums. However, I don't think we've gotten to the point where we can simulate the exact outcomes. We can only get close to it.

[@Dakakeisalie]

Tom you never cease to amaze in finding bizarre yet fascinating places

[@aretorta]

My favourite field: the chemistry of colour! Specially form a historical point of view!

[@mirjanbouma]

I love all the interesting topics and places you she's with us, Tom. It's fun but also educational without talking to us like we are children. You have a great channel. Love from the Netherlands.

[@GordonHenderson]

Burnt Umber - one of my favourite colours when a kid in school - I now live a few miles from one place they used to make it and worked in the building for a short while - long after the furnace had been removed though. Fascinating stuff!

[@trevoranderson4414]

This is one of those exhibits I never would've sauntered into on my own accord, but Tom manages to put it in an interesting light. 5 stars, Tom 👍

[@CrimsonMemes]

Imagine how annoying an Earthquake would be there.

[@SarahAndBoston]

Thanks for this awesome video! I am a painter and I live in Boston. I’ve been to this exhibit before, but only a small amount of pigments are out of display, the vast majority are too far away to be really observed, so this video was a treat! Thank you.

[@deannam-host6584]

As an artist i found this both fascinating and delightful 😀 thanks for spotlighting this! 👍

[@grabasandwich]

"This beautifully painted winter scene smells like sh*t!"

[@Riolupai]

well, y'see, the brown used for the wood of the tree is... well...

[@ShadowDrakken]

This was amazing. Thank you Tom and Mr Khandekhar!

[@JaRule6]

OMG! That was freaking awesome! Thank you for sharing this with us ❣️

[@juliaconnell]

it's one of my dearest dreams to see a new colour

[@LindsayDaly]

Anish Kapoor is *S* *H* *A* *K* *I* *N* *G*

[@ricchburglar]

Who is that sounds like a famous chess player.

[@sciblastofficial9833]

@@ricchburglar Some guy who stole the Pinkest Pink pigment, after the guy who made the P.P. pigment got jealous at him becaude Anish got to have Vantablack (one of the darkest blacks) and the P.P. creator didn't.

[@fomalhaut_the_great]

@@sciblastofficial9833 Anish stole the (at the time) blackest pigment from the artistic community as a whole. The greedy bastard.

[@moduspwnenz]

@@fomalhaut_the_great how? Its an expensive pigment to make and used for aeronautics. Thats like complaining Apple is greedy for trademarking something they made

[@dlbstl]

I love learning where colored pigment comes from. Thanks so much!

[@benmaughan7452]

I swear, these Tom Scott videos from 3 years ago literally just spawn in every day

[@crashrose6128]

I work at an art supply store with some high end specialty paints, and one of my favorite things to do to demonstrate the difference between lead oils and non lead oils is have customers hold a tube of a modern paint, and then hand them a tube of red lead

[@Khunark]

so what's the difference?

[@crashrose6128]

@@Khunark in terms of how the paint itself paints the difference is really in things like flexibility and achievability, but the reason i have people hold the two tubes side by side is to feel the weight. the tubes with lead in them are SIGNIFICANTLY heavier than those without.

[@GermaphobeMusic]

The pinkest pink better be in this

[@todbilegotgonbat3943]

How's the blacker Vantablack?

[@randomizednamme]

4:37 I think

[@WoLpH]

Don't forget about the yellowest yellow, greenest green and loveliest blue

[@TotalElipse]

It is! They have most of Stuarts stuff in there. As randomizednamme pointed out you can see two of his pigments at 4:37.

[@ralanham76]

Had to have the diamond dust it's a girl's best friend

[@verynormalvic]

Thank you for coming to our city! I hope you enjoyed exploring the Harvard Art Museum and the other museums in the area, artistic and scientific.

[@blueferral3414]

Tom thank you for your videos. In the depressing times we have to deal with it is nice to see a video on how fascinating our world is.

[@trumpetperson11]

This was way more interesting than I expected it to be.

[@user-xy4wq8hh6t]

Him: “Mummy brown is made up from crushed Egyptian mummies.” Me: Hmmm interesting Also him: “Indian yellow...” Me: absolutely disgusting..

[@josinboop6132]

Baby blue "crush up ba... .

[@doubleT84]

When the supply of ancient mummys ran out some people made their own, for the profits. Let that sink in.

[@variegatus4674]

if theres an 'Indian Brown' it'd obviously be the aftermath of cheap indian food

[@shrinebox]

Fabulous! Thanks very much for sharing this, Tom Scott :D

[@Weisior]

Amaizing! Finally saw something worth remembering for life today...

[@MaraK_dialmformara]

This is wonderful. If you want to learn more about the histories of pigments, I recommend The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair.

[@terrotorotbart8319]

This was certainly a colourful video. :D

[@dlrss1v274]

hue are nice

[@HolyKhaaaaan]

Sends mum to whack with an umbrella

[@bronzejourney5784]

1:38 I love the way the building and sorting is arranged.

[@santiastronomo]

the fact the thumbnail says the colors WILL kill me and not COULD kill you is scaring me

[@salmeza85]

Would have thought every shade of colour imaginable would have been discovered. Especially in the digital age. Great to be educated on something new. Thank you.

[@rubybuttons668]

Oh no, people are still discovering, creating and working towards pigments. It’s not always a new colour they find but rather a pure hue, or a more stable and light fast one.

[@jahrenskiashkevron1499]

Very interesting! Even thought I can only name about 12 colors.

[@kvweber]

Start with the ones at the beginning of a Bob Ross video, that'll give you a good jumping point! :D

[@vividandlucid]

Get your Titanium Hwhite

[@DaedalusYoung]

Phthalo Blue.

[@hyacinthivy7479]

Creamy Pasta Good pun!🤣

[@dankusmalfoy8566]

I LOVE YOU TOM SCOTT!!! Every video is so damn interesting!!

[@RubmaLione]

The Harvard Art Museums are incredible. Definitely worth a trip up to Boston/Cambridge just to visit. They often get overshadowed by NYC’s museums, but are wholly unique (this pigment collection being just one of the many specialties).

[@JollibeenosHasYourCoordinates]

1:34 A "what Arabic"?! That caught me off-guard.

[@arothmanmusic]

I highly recommend “The Secret Lives of Color” by Kassia St. Clair. It talks all about the history and invention of pigments like these. It’s really fascinating.

[@dantheman2907]

This was absolutely fascinating! This place is now on my must-see list.

[@juliejanesmith57]

Thanks Tom. Always been fascinated y colors, pigments and other ways to represent colors

[@thetimitzers]

As a partial colorblind I'm actually quite curious to how they all actually look on our eyes...

[@leifvejby8023]

Me too!

[@lassievision]

Depending on your type of colour blindness, some people have had great results with enchroma glasses, which can help to give an idea about how the rest of us see colours.

[@bluzshadez]

The best thing that I've learned from this video is that the Archive of Colours are like books that can be taken out of the display cases and can be studied/ used for reference. I thought those were just for display.

[@PurpleShift42]

bluzshadez Yep, specialist research libraries can end up collecting all sorts of things! There are other libraries out there that collect various chemical compounds for people to do assays and chemical analysis on.

[@bluzshadez]

@@PurpleShift42 Thanks for sharing information. I grew up with the notion that Libraries are only for books and other printed materials, movies, vinyl, etc. I learned something new today. God bless!

[@BThings]

So cool! I spend a lot of time dealing with color, but it’s almost all on the computer (or printing by extension), so it’s fun to be reminded of the many ways color gets created outside of the digital realm!!!

[@lars1588]

Casually pours all of the colors together in a bucket and mixes them.

[@jakeroosenbloom]

Halfway through I started thinking this was an Objectivity video

[@CatsMeowPaw]

This was a nice colour piece about Harvard

[@francoisjacques]

This was really great! Thanks Tom!

[@Zoe-yq4ng]

This museum is so cool. Really want a documentary series to explain all the colors and their origins

[@YusriRilke]

Another great and interesting video. Never wondered how they judged forgery from authentic in the art world :)

[@artstsym]

So, is the gallery UV shielded? Obviously part of it is understanding how they age, but it still feels like that might compromise their practical use to some degree.

[@niklasohlsson]

Meris I was thinking the same. Thought someone else had written a comment about it, and I was right :)

[@Helveteshit]

Doubt that part of the gallery is within the light source. Even then, it is behind several layers of glass. At that point, most of the UV should of been filtered/diminished greatly in strength.

[@MICHGO1]

IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS LINED WITH WINDOW WITH SUNLIGHT BEAMING IN.

[@NazzaKandybar]

All the light in the gallery is UV filtered. These pigments have been blasted by light for decades and only the thinnest edge where the light reaches the pigment is affected. If you take the lid off the containers you can see that most of the pigment is unaffected, so we get a sample of both the degraded and original material for analysis.

[@mygoldfisharegold]

I would definitely attend a display of these colours and the materials used to make them, it's so fascinating!

[@LynnNexus]

That is utterly fantastic. I absolutely love this.

[@andrewtaylor-innes9791]

Fun fact uranium was used as a green pigment back in the 1800s.

[@tompw3141]

It was used as an orange pigment (in pottery glazes) until the 1950s!

[@radianzero]

"Lead white is toxic in the same way that lead is... toxic" Me: *_"Well yes, but actually _**_-no-_**_ yes."_*

[@emmastilwell759]

Willing to explain? Now I'm really curious :)

[@dedpauls5016]

Love the Vids Tom!

[@mariaaldred3058]

Thank for the video, Tom.

[@elmadicine]

um... did we gloss over the part where it distinctly featured "dragon's blood" as an ingredient

[@lordeisschrank]

If some of them are sensitive to light... then shouldn't they be stored in a darker room?

[@AnnieNYC1]

This was fascinating! Thank you!

[@Prawnsly]

Something about this whole collection is really inspiring

[@TheKazragore]

Just waiting for someone to discover ocatrine.

[@anotheraccount7637]

What do you do for a living? I feed cows mango leaves them collect the urine.

[@dont-want-no-wrench]

ask the same question to the cow, and it's even worse

[@TheBurninghedge]

How bloody interesting indeed. Thanks Tom.

[@larnregis]

I wonder if there's a scientific way to describe/define a certain color. A way that doesn't uses references to certain materials that are dissolving over time, but actualy physical constants. So even if the original color/pigment is dissolved over time, you can reproduce the color exactly the same, even though the materials used are not the same.

[@aaronisnotalive]

That would probably be the hex code.

[@wolfetteplays8894]

No, there isn’t. Because vision and color detection inherently has a lot of variation

[@larnregis]

@@aaronisnotalive The hex code is a 32bit simplification of a color which doesn't include any info about reflectivity, opacity, vibrancy etc. e.g. gold, silver, bronze and other shiny colors can't be described in hex.

[@lemons1559]

I would imagine not, but even if the pigment is faded and gone, you can use the original materials to make more of the pigment.

[@larnregis]

@@lemons1559 "original material" is a subjective/changing definition as well. You don't get the pulver for "mummy brown" nowadays anymore and several other materials changed over time due to different purification and synthesis methods.

[@ketsuekikumori9145]

How very colourful. (Also love how autocorrect highlights colour as incorrect)

[@joshuaclare4860]

Ketsueki Kumori the autocorrect occurs because it defaults to the American spelling of the English words. So colour becomes color, armour becomes armor, and so on. Quite frankly it’s rather aggravating

[@Hannah_Em]

Honestly, you can't trust the Americans to build anything properly! ;D

[@ginismoja2459]

Just change your autocorrect language to literally any variety of English but American. Colour is the correct spelling everywhere else.

[@andymcl92]

@@ginismoja2459 *any variety of English but Simplified.

[@cityuser]

@@Hannah_Em Just look at 9/1... maybe too inappropriate of a joke.

[@PtotheMtotheK]

The Pigment collection is awesome! Really interesting details shared by the curator there. I want to hear more :)

[@SpeakerMunkey]

Incredible. They should do some kind of public exhibition to show what they are doing. It would be so interesting.

[@mjmdiver1137]

Tom, if you haven't, you should do an episode on how/why magenta isn't a 'real' color... Its a fascinating perspective on color theory;