Presented at the Great War Museum in Meaux until January 3, 2027, the “Colors of War” exhibition offers a renewed approach to the history and representations of the conflict. Inaugurated this June 12 in the presence of Mrs. Catherine Pégard, Minister of Culture, Mr. Jean-François Copé, mayor of Meaux and president of the CA of Pays de Meaux, and Mr. Edward de Lumley, regional director of cultural affairs for ÃŽle-de-France, this exhibition invites you to rediscover the First World War through the prism of color, revealing an artistic, human and memorial dimension often eclipsed by military stories and strategic issues.
The visitor enters a space where the memory of the conflict is transformed. Here, war is not just a succession of events or battles, it becomes a sensitive experience. Color stands out as a key to reading the route. On almost 4000 m2the scenography displays planes, tanks, reconstructed trenches and everyday objects. The whole seeks not only to show, but to make people feel, through fragments of disrupted lives, those of soldiers and civilians alike.
Located on the very territory of the first Battle of the Marne, the museum immediately places its purpose in a geography steeped in history. This proximity gives a particular density to the course. Objects from all over the world interact with this place marked by combat, creating a tension between local memory and universal story. Little by little, this change of perspective takes hold. War, often perceived through black and white images, finds its colors here. This forgotten evidence then opens up a broader reflection.
A color war between perception and construction
Two soldiers at the wash house “Long live the class of 1892!” Jules Monge (1855-1934) France, 1893 Lithograph 2011.0 © Bossuet Museum, Episcopal City, Meaux
Before being a language or a symbol, color is first of all a material reality. Born from the interaction between light, surfaces and the eye that perceives them, it has fueled numerous scientific research, from Newton to Michel-Eugène Chevreul. But the exhibition quickly shows that this approach is not enough to grasp its full scope, color never existing independently of those who look at it. It is also a construction cultural, shaped by uses, beliefs and historical contexts It can translate an identity, affirm a belonging or arouse an emotion. In the context of war, it constitutes a language in its own right, sometimes obvious, sometimes contradictory.
This dual status gives color a unique place in the story of the conflict. She does not just dress the objects, she participates in the way in which the world is perceived and interpreted. In the exhibition, this reflection takes shape through images which give the war an immediate presence again. Among the documents presented, the autochromes offer a particularly striking example of this transformation of the gaze, by restoring the war in its colorful dimension.
“The potato chore” Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud – France, 1913 Autochrome plate CE2025.34.3 © Great War Museum-Meaux
Rediscovering the war through images becomes one of the common threads of the journey. For a long time, the First World War was remembered through black and white photographs. However, some contemporaries were able to capture it in color using autochrome, a process developed by the Lumiere brothers. On the front and behind, photographers such as Jules Gervais-Courtellemont, Fernand Cuville and Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud recorded everyday scenes. Their images move away from the spectacular to capture ordinary moments, revealing a war experienced more than heroic.
These documents disturb visual cues. They bring the past closer to the present and make the war more tangible. Color acts here as a revealer and renews our view of the conflict.
When uniforms change the world
On the eve of the conflict, the European armies still wore dazzling uniforms. These colors assert military prestige and continue a tradition inherited from the 19th century. However, this visibility quickly becomes a danger. Gradually, the colors transform. British khaki, German feldgrau or even French horizon blue testify to an adaptation to a war that had become industrial. The appearance of new weapons such as heavy artillery, machine guns or aerial observation is forcing armies to completely rethink the way they make themselves visible or invisible on the battlefield.
“Éséda” trial helmet, troop model, 2nd type France, 1912 Felt, cardboard, brass, leather 2013.4.1 © Great War Museum, Meaux- D.Rase
This change is no longer just an aesthetic choice. It reflects a profound transformation in military thinking, where color becomes a tactical tool intended to reduce the silhouette, blend into the terrain and escape detection. In this evolution, color does not disappear and becomes a central issue of visibility and survival.
155 long camouflaged © Georges Delauw France, 1916 Graphite and gouache on paper 2006.1.10089 © Musée de la Grande Guerre-Meaux
When war broke out in 1914, French uniforms remained among the most visible in Europe with their famous red pants. Very quickly, however, the realities of the front imposed other choices. Losses, supply difficulties and the evolution of the fighting led to the adoption of a new color, horizon blue. Distributed from the spring of 1915, this uniform accompanied the soldiers in the trenches and became one of the most enduring symbols of the Great War. It embodies the transition from an army attached to its traditions to an army confronted with the demands of a modernized battlefield, where discretion becomes a condition of survival. The French case particularly illustrates this transition. Long attached to bright colors, the army must face the realities on the ground. The blue horizon then emerged as a pragmatic response, becoming in a few years a symbol of the French soldier. This transformation is not limited to the color of the uniforms. At the same time, camouflage appears to be a decisive innovation. Artists and soldiers collaborate to hide equipment and positions. The shapes fragment, the colors blend into the landscape. This new science of concealment marks the entry of color into a logic of military engineering, a strategic tool which profoundly modifies the way of seeing and hiding.
Colors as a social and political language
Beyond their military use, colors convey multiple meanings. They translate states, belongings or commitments. A black dress evokes mourning, a white armband signals a function, a color detail can reveal an identity. The exhibition highlights this symbolic dimension through various objects. Each shade becomes a clue to interpret. The visitor is invited to read these fragments of the past differently, to understand what they express beyond their appearance.
Three soldiers in the Vosges, Xavier Josso – France, 1917 “Ink and watercolor on paper” 2015.1.170 © Museum of the Great War, Meaux
French infantryman on the Dardanelles front France, 1915 Wool CAPM H.20F © Museum of the Great War, Meaux – D. Rase
Cover of the magazine La-Baïonnette,-n°18 of November 4, 1915-2006.8.3.0 © Museum of the Great War – Meaux
Suffragette outfit N. Newman, 1910-CE2019.24.1 and-2 © Great War Museum Meaux
“Portrait-of-broken-mouth” attributed to J-Blanc, 1915-1920, 12.2017 © Great War Museum-Meaux
Certain examples particularly illuminate this reading. A suffragette outfit, marked by purple, white and yellow, reveals a political commitment hidden under the codes of elegance. Color appears here as a discreet but powerful language. This approach shows how war also transforms collective representations. Colors do not disappear and change function and meaning.
During the Great War, colors were not only used to distinguish uniforms. They also transmit messages, signal a function or reflect a sense of belonging. The black of mourning, the white of health personnel, the yellow of Alpine hunters or even the purple associated with suffragist movements testify to this symbolic dimension. Color also becomes a communication tool. Propaganda posters, national emblems, flags and badges use immediately recognizable codes to reinforce the feeling of belonging and support the war effort. The colors of the Red Cross or those associated with suffragist movements also testify to this symbolic dimension. Behind each color hide collective representations, sometimes obvious, sometimes forgotten, which the exhibition invites us to rediscover. This symbolic richness is also found in the works produced during the conflict. Painters, designers and illustrators in turn use color to testify, interpret or transmit their experience of the war.
Color at the heart of the conflict
Certain works tell the conflict differently. Among the pieces presented, certain works offer a unique look at the war. The painting “Nurses and the Wounded”, created by Pierre‒Albert Leroux between 1914 and 1915, restores the reality of care and waiting in a universe shot through by the violence of conflict. The scene, deeply human, brings out another perception of war, one that is quieter and more fragile too. Louis Veyssière’s drawings reflect direct experience from the front.
“Nurses and wounded” Pierre-Albert Leroux – France, 1914-1915 Oil on canvas Don Leroux Great War Museum, Meaux
In “Explosions”, a gouache created at the beginning of the 20th century, the colors become almost unreal: they express the violence of combat as much as they translate a memory transformed by trauma. Color not only documents the war, it also restores an intimate perception of it.
“Explosions” Louis Veyssière (1895-1974) France, first quarter of the 20th century Gouache on paper Don Bluwal 2024 © Musée de la Grande Guerre-Meaux
The exhibition doesn’t just show color. It invites us to understand the multiple functions she occupied during the conflict. From pigments to camouflage techniques developed on the front, the route highlights the uses of color in a war that has become industrial. This approach makes it possible to measure the extent to which color contributes to perception, strategy and the representation of the world at war.
Copy of Mamey, September 1914 Jean Veber 2006.1.1977 © Museum of the Great War-Meaux Y.Marques
At the Great War Museum, this exhibition offers much more than a unique look at the First World War. It invites us to reconsider our perception of conflict. Color does not attenuate either the violence or the tragedy of this war. It restores its complexity and gives depth to the human experiences that have passed through it.
