The Blue That Upended the Art World episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 19, 2026 · 26 MIN

The Blue That Upended the Art World

from The Atlas Obscura Podcast · host SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

Cultural historian Kassia St. Clair tells the stories of two highly prized colors that are linked to specific places in the world: an exquisite, extremely expensive blue that crossed the globe and upended the European art world… and a shade of purple that possibly wouldn’t have ever come to exist in a different place and time.    Learn more about color history in Kassia’s book, The Secret Lives of Color Plus: We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to [email protected]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cultural historian Kassia St. Clair tells the stories of two highly prized colors that are linked to specific places in the world: an exquisite, extremely expensive blue that crossed the globe and upended the European art world… and a shade of purple that possibly wouldn’t have ever come to exist in a different place and time. Learn more about color history in Kassia’s book, The Secret Lives of Color. Plus: We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to [email protected]

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The Blue That Upended the Art World

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This episode was published on March 19, 2026.

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Cultural historian Kassia St. Clair tells the stories of two highly prized colors that are linked to specific places in the world: an exquisite, extremely expensive blue that crossed the globe and upended the European art world… and a shade of...

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