When we suggested McCahon black and white as a colour range derived from his late paintings, we were playing the irony card. Turns out the Guggenheim, with out so much as a hint of it, had beaten us to the finish line way back (thanks R). The Museum is in bed with the Netherlands company Fine Paints of Europe and is offering not only the colours of its building as the McCahon house did, but also colour riffs based on paintings from their collection. How do they do that?
“Each colour was carefully chosen from paintings in the Guggenheim galleries. The selection was then refined in consultation with exhibition designers to ensure the colours are appropriate for a variety of architectural settings. Fine Paints of Europe precisely matched each colour and created the final formulations. Each Classical Colour relates to the painting from which it was derived and the artist who created it.” Take that Matisse.
Images: Top gallery colours. Bottom, swatch of colours based on paintings from the collection
