This book explores the history of our understanding of colour from the ancient world to the present, from Aristotle to Albers. Interspersed in the historical story are the thematic essays that explore how colour has been used across a wide range of disciplines and fields: in belief, commerce, language, nature, food, wellness, printing and music. Many of the illustrations are drawn from the Royal College of Art's renowned Colour Reference Library, which spans six centuries of works and nearly 2,000 titles, from a Gothic manuscript on the composition of the rainbow to hand-painted Enlightenment works on colour theory and vibrant twentieth century colour charts.