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The Radiance (and Gloom) of Yellow The Radiance (and Gloom) of Yellow
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“The Kiss of Judas”, Giotto di Bondone, ca. 1303–1305, Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy (public domain)
Experiences

The Radiance (and Gloom) of Yellow

The Truth Behind Indian Yellow
Szymon Drobniak
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time 4 minutes
Szymon Drobniak:
an evolutionary biologist, researcher on colour, ornithologist, illustrator and author. A passionate fan of diagrams, cross-sections and pea soup. In his spare time, he collects roots (not the mathematical kind).

A color that induces euphoria in the brain also has a sinister side.

A painting by Giotto titled The Kiss of Judas hangs in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. It depicts a crowd of intertwined figures in multi-colored cloaks—but one stands out from the rest, brightly distinguished by a patch of dense gold. It is Judas, draped in a bright yellow cloak, placing his treacherous kiss on Jesus’s cheek. Nothing else in this painting matters more than this almost neon-like robe and the color yellow—used so dramatically that Giotto must have had important reasons for doing so.

If we wish to tangibly convey an impression o

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Szymon Drobniak:
an evolutionary biologist, researcher on colour, ornithologist, illustrator and author. A passionate fan of diagrams, cross-sections and pea soup. In his spare time, he collects roots (not the mathematical kind).
Translation: Scotia Gilroy
Publish date: 18.03.2022

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On Color (and its Limits)
Szymon Drobniak
Szymon Drobniak:
an evolutionary biologist, researcher on colour, ornithologist, illustrator and author. A passionate fan of diagrams, cross-sections and pea soup. In his spare time, he collects roots (not the mathematical kind).

Birds ruffle their feathers flickering with ultraviolet; lizards stick to stones glowing with infrared. The color world of animals goes far beyond the spectrum available to humans. 

The universe basks in photons. It is like a plump, shiny cherry dipped in sweet liqueur—it drips in radiation, shooting motes of light all around. The wildest light: cosmic objects in space, monsters molded from superheavy matter, spreading every possible flavor of ray in all directions. I am lying underneath this cosmos, on a hard road that car wheels have forgotten about. The nearby Białowieża Forest breathes the night; the dome of warm July air presses me to the ground. I am taking the universe in with my eyes, two hungrily dilated tiny holes pierced in the irises. 

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