The Nature of Color Exhibit at NHMU

The Nature of Color is an immersive exhibit where you can explore and learn all about how color affects the world and how we react to it.

This post is sponsored by the Natural History Museum of Utah. All thoughts and opinions are 100% mine.

My family and I recently visited the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City where The Nature of Color exhibit is currently open. The exhibit is included in the cost of admission to the museum itself so if you want to walk around the rest (or part) of the museum after seeing The Nature of Color, you can.

From the moment you walk into the exhibit, you are met with a variety of color and pattern. As you walk through each part, you’ll learn about how color affects our brain. The whole exhibit is very hands on and interactive.

Color and Feelings

As you probably know, color plays a huge part in how we feel. When you see yellow, you generally feel more happy. Blue creates a feeling of calmness. What other colors do you associate with certain feelings?

Color and Meaning

Color also has meaning attached to it. For example, red is often associated with power, while green can symbolize wealth. There is a yellow room where you can play around with different color blocks and to try and create certain moods. The red room is full of clothing and other items with descriptions about how and why the colors were symbolic. You might even spot a favorite Utah college sports team jersey there. *wink*

Color and Nature

Another part of the exhibit explores how color is used in nature. For example, they had a small rain forest habitat with some poison dart frogs talking about their use of bright colors to warn predators. There was another small habitat as part of this exhibit where an animal was so well camouflaged that one of the workers had to point it out to us. We could not get over how amazing it was!

Our family’s favorite portion was towards the end, before you exit the exhibit. There are two large walls with projectors where you can dance, twirl and be silly. The colors on the walls have different patterns and one of them even copies your movements with a delayed response. You can also use the touchscreens in the area to change the color schemes.

The Nature of Color was originally created by the American Museum of Natural History in New York and is a traveling exhibition. If you are in Utah, you can visit up through August 14, 2022. Visit the website for the Natural History Museum of Utah for tickets, hours and other information.