Conserving Colour with the Conservation team

Colour is everywhere, but it can also be surprisingly fragile. Fading, discolouration, dirt and even well-intentioned past repairs all present challenges for conservators caring for museum collections.  

Conservators must balance practical, technical and ethical considerations when deciding how best to preserve an object’s appearance, from understanding how original colours were made to assessing how they may change over time and whether lost colour should ever be recreated. 

In this talk, Bristol Museums Conservators will explore the challenges and rewards of working with colour through examples from the exhibition and the wider collections.  

Discover pigments made from rare minerals, Egyptian mummies and even cow urine; learn why varnish was the original Instagram filter; and find out why blue and yellow do not always make the best green.  

Speakers

Members from our Conservation team.