Plate 03

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Viewing room — stories, objects and the people behind them.

Blue was the last colour to get a name

Across unrelated ancient languages, colour vocabulary appears in almost the same order.

Blue was the last colour to get a name
Design FactBlue was the last colour to get a name

The pattern Black and white first, then red, then yellow and green, then blue. Homer described a wine-dark sea because there was no other word available.

Why it matters Colour is not only perceived, it is named — and naming shapes what people can tell you about a palette. Half of a colour presentation is deciding what to call things.

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