Further to this post, I’ve created a little exhibition of 4-bit art. Click below to load (~1MB).

During a bout of nostalgia the other day, I thought back to when computers had very limited graphics cards. One of the first PCs I used had a graphics card that could support 256 colours and I remember my amazement when I first saw an image in 16-bit colour - wow, just wow - it’s so real! Now we have 24-bit - 16,777,216 colours - and that seems plenty.

If you ask someone to describe a colour, you’re not likely to get a precise answer. Most people’s “linguistic resolution” is quite limited.

“Erm.. bluey-green”
“It’s an orangey-pinkish colour”
“Light brown”

Obviously the eye can detect more subtle differences in colour that we can adequately describe linguistically - but what if this wasn’t the case? What if the human eye could only see in 4-bit colour?

Here is Paul Cézanne’s ‘Still Life with a Skull’ in 4-bit colour:

How does the impact of a painting change when the colour depth is lowered?
Can you get a better feel of the composition of a painting if you are less distracted by the colour?