Thanks to modern chemistry, it's rather simple to produce any of thousands of colors in paint, dye, and other materials. Once upon a time, it wasn't so easy, and producing a new color was like discovering a new world, or maybe more like magic. Harvard University has a collection of now more than 2700 of these rare and original pigments, each with a story behind them. The Forbes Pigment Collection has original versions of colors from a wide range of sources: plants and insects of course, but also strange sources like human corpses and the dried urine of cows that eat mango leaves. You have to wonder how those discoveries came about. Great Big Story has more.
The collection is for posterity and research and is not on exhibit to the public, as these rare pigments are fragile and must be protected. But you can see them online. Take an audio tour of the collection here. -via Moss and Fog