Into the Blue
Prints & Drawings Gallery, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery
2 May – 20 September 2026
This summer, dive into the deep blue sea and sky with us. Seen from space, our planet looks like a blue marble. What we see when we look up on a cloudless day is a bright blue sky, and at night the firmament often appears inky blue. We seem to be surrounded by blue on a cosmic, all-encompassing scale.
Unsurprisingly, humans have been fascinated by blue for thousands of years, and have attached a myriad of different meanings, mythologies, and emotions to it. Countless writers, poets, painters, filmmakers, and designers have been inspired by blue and dipped into its mysterious allure. Some of the greatest and most spiritual works of art have been created using powerful blues.
But while we look up at blue skies, as a pigment, the colour blue is difficult to source. There have been some glorious blues in history, including the luminous Egyptian blue, the intense Ultramarine blue made from lapis lazuli, and more recently artificial ones such as Yves Klein Blue and YInMn Blue.
For this new display, curator and colour historian Alexandra Loske chosen a selection of blue prints, drawings and paintings from Brighton & Hove Museums’ collections. Each one tells a different blue story.
