The Artist's Palette

The paint-loaded palettes of fifty world-renowned artists are displayed alongside the paintings the artists created using those hues, and the colours and brushstrokes employed are analysed to uncover surprising new stories about each artist and their work. Presented broadly chronologically, the artists featured in this revelatory book range from those working in the 17th century to the present day, including Artemisia Gentileschi, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Vincent Van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Georgia O’Keeffe and Bridget Riley. Each artist’s palette – whether photographed or visible in self-portraits – is paired with one or more works by the artist that reflect the colours of the paint remaining on the palette.

Colour expert and art historian Alexandra Loske skilfully analyses each artist’s colour palette and brushstrokes to reveal not only exactly how they used colour in their work but also to tell the story of their journey with colour and the influence of their approach on the wider culture to which they belonged. For example, Georges Seurat meticulously arranged the paints on his palette in prismatic order, isolating the colours and pairing each with a blot of white paint. His pointillist technique was equally apparent on his palette and his canvas.

Kerry James Marshall uses blots of zinc white and smears of pale pink on the surfaces of symbolically oversized white palettes held by black artists in his portraits, raising provocative questions about the role of colour in the story of black history and white western art. The Artist’s Palette will appeal to an art history audience, a wider audience eager to learn more about the use of colour by the great artists and amateur painters looking for inspiration in the creation of their own work.