What exactly is a rainbow and how is it formed? Why does it have seven colours? And what have rainbows symbolised in mythologies and art?
Join colour expert Dr Alexandra Loske, National Gallery Principal Scientist Joseph Padfield and National Gallery host Beks Leary as they cover rainbows from Noah’s Ark to Olafur Eliasson, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon to Georges Seurat’s ‘The Rainbow’ study.
Alexandra is a colour expert, art historian and museum curator. Her exhibition 'Colour: A Chromatic Promenade through the Royal Pavilion' is on display at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton until October 2025. She is also author of 'The Artist's Palette' and 'Colour: A Visual History'.
Joseph is a Principal Scientist at the National Gallery. He brings a wealth of expertise across multiple domains, including data management, digital infrastructure, conservation documentation, digital imaging, web development, preventive conservation, museum lighting, colour science, and the technical examination of paintings.
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You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk
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Paintings mentioned:
Angelica Kauffman RA, ‘Colouring’, 1778-80. Royal Academy of Arts, London © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photographer: John Hammond https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/colour
Jan Van Eyck, ‘The Annunciation’, about 1434/1436. National Gallery of Art, Washington https://www.nga.gov/artworks/46-annunciation
Bartolomé Bermejo, ‘Saint Michael triumphant over the Devil with the Donor Antoni Joan’, 1468. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/bartolome-bermejo-saint-michael-triumphs-over-the-devil
John Constable, ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’, exhibited 1831. Tate, Purchased by Tate with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Manton Foundation, Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation) and Tate Members in partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales, Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service, National Galleries of Scotland, and The Salisbury Museum 2013. © Photo: Tate https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-salisbury-cathedral-from-the-meadows-t13896
John Everett Millais, ‘The Blind Girl’, 1856. Birmingham Museums Trust © Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust https://dams.birminghammuseums.org.uk/assetbank-birminghammuseums/action/viewAsset?id=3114&index=22&total=215&view=viewSearchItem
Georges Seurat, ‘The Rainbow: Study for 'Bathers at Asnières'’, 1883. The National Gallery, London https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/georges-seurat-the-rainbow-study-for-bathers-at-asnieres
Further reading:
Alexandra Loske, The Artist's Palette: The Palettes Behind the Paintings of 50 Great Artists, 2024
Alexandra Loske, Colour: A Visual History, 2019
Find out more about the exhibition ‘Colour: A Chromatic Promenade through the Royal Pavilion’ at The Royal Pavilion, Brighton: https://brightonmuseums.org.uk/event/colour/
Raymond L. Lee and Alistair B. Fraser, The Rainbow Bridge: Rainbows in Art, Myth and Science, 2001
Isaac Newton, Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light, 1704
Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ album cover: http://www.hipgnosiscovers.com/pinkfloyd/darksideofthemoon.html
Cesare Ripa, Iconologia, 1593
Find out more about Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Your Rainbow Panorama’ (2011) at ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, in Denmark: https://www.aros.dk/en/art/the-collection/olafur-eliasson-your-rainbow-panorama-2011/
Find out more about the work of Andy Goldsworthy: https://andygoldsworthystudio.com/
Find out more about Hiroshi Sugimoto’s ‘Opticks’: https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/polarized-color-1
Find out more about artist and writer David Batchelor: https://www.davidbatchelor.co.uk/works/installations/
Find out more about solar geometry in Constable’s ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/in-focus/salisbury-cathedral-constable/reassessing-the-rainbow
Thomas Forster, Researches about Atmospheric Phaenomena, [1815]
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End credits:
Guests: Dr Alexandra Loske and Joseph Padfield
Host and executive producer: Beks Leary
Producer: Harry Rosehill
Researcher: Hannah Rogers
Technicians: Ian Warren and Tom Gulliver
Editor: Jeanne Kenyon and Paul Frankl
Theme music: Theo Elwell