What remains of the colours of our childhood? What are our memories of a blue rabbit, a red dress, a yellow bike and were they really those colours? What colours do we associate with our student years, our first loves, our adult lives? How does colour leave its mark on memory? In an attempt to answer these and other questions, Michel Pastoureau presents us with a journal about colours that covers half a century. Drawing on personal recollections, he retraces the recent history of colours through an exploration of fashion and clothing, everyday objects and practices, emblems and flags, sport, literature, museums and art. This text playful, poetic, nostalgic records the life of both the author and his contemporaries. We live in a world increasingly bursting with colour, in which colour remains a focus for memory, a source of delight and, most of all, an invitation to dream.

What remains of the colours of our childhood? What are our memories of a blue rabbit, a red dress, a yellow bike - and were they really those colours? What colours do we associate with our student years, our first loves, our adult lives? How does colour leave its mark on memory?In an attempt to answer these and other questions, Michel Pastoureau presents us with a journal about colours that covers half a century. Drawing on personal recollections, he retraces the recent history of colours through an exploration of fashion and clothing, everyday objects and practices, emblems and flags, sport, literature, museums and art.This text - playful, poetic, nostalgic - records the life of both the author and his contemporaries. We live in a world increasingly bursting with colour, in which colour remains a focus for memory, a source of delight and, most of all, an invitation to dream.

olour. An aide-mémoireI. CLOTHINGIn the beginning was yellowTurbulent stripesThe navy-blue blazerSubversive trousersA particular blueFrom the garment to the mythColour against fleshNeutral shades in good tasteMitterand beigeSlimming coloursIn the London UndergroundII. DAILY LIFEMy mother's pharmacyThe sad tale of young PhilippeSweet-dispensersChoosing a colour: an impossible undertaking?GreynessMetro ticketsRed or blue?Traffic lightsColour and design: a missed chance?Eating coloursIII. THE ARTS AND LETTERSIn a painter's studioA painter caught between two volumesIn darkened hallsIvanhoe'Vowels'The Red and the BlackChrétien de Troyes at the cinemaPink pigs and black pigsWhen Dalí assigned marksThe colours of a great painterHistorians without coloursThe workings of timeIV. ON SPORTS GROUNDSGoals and refereesThe yellow bikeBartali and the Italian flagThe Tour de l'OuestColour by defaultEasy colours and difficult onesPink and orangeV. MYTHS AND SYMBOLSLittle Red RidinghoodLong live school LatinMy discovery of heraldryThe black catGreen superstitionsThe colour of destinyFurling the coloursA historical object that is alarmingPlaying chessWittgenstein and heraldic coloursVI. ON TASTES AND COLOURSAn American giftSunbathing through the yearsThe 'bling' of the 1950sA brief history of goldA mysterious shade of greenDo you see red clearly?No purple for childrenThe whims of memoryPreferences and opinion pollsVII. WORDSBrown and beigeSpelling and grammarA day at the racesThe zero degree of colourA part that stands for the wholeThe Greek blueThe demise of nuancesSpeaking of colours without showing themWhat is colour?BibliographyIndexA few helpful chronological details