Range Introduction

Galeria Acrylic Colour is a high quality acrylic which delivers professional results and is ideal for artists who want good quality colour at an affordable price.

All of the 60 colours in the Galeria Acrylic range offer a wide spectrum of pigment characteristics to choose from as well as excellent brilliance of colour, high levels of pigment strength, opacity & permanence, strong brush stroke retention, clean colour and a smooth, satin finish.

Click on the headings below to discover more about the unique qualities of Galeria Acrylic Colour.

Don't forget to look in Further Information where you can find out more about Galeria Acrylic Colour, including a recommended colour palette.

You can also view all of the colours in this range by going to our colour chart.

Sizes available

Galeria offers a balanced spectrum of 60 colours across two Series.  There is a broad choice of pack sizes, making it ideal for small and large scale art work:

To see the colours available in each size, see our colour chart.

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New Packaging

We have put feedback from artists to good use and completely re-designed the Galeria cap, and improved the Galeria 250ml and 500ml pots.

Stackable, flip-top cap: The cap has a flat top so you can stack the pots in your studio, making them more space efficient. They are also more economical as when you are reaching the end of your colour you can store the pots on their caps upside down so the colour drains on the cap.

Galeria flat top

Nozzle: The cap has a flip top, so once you open the lid, the nozzle is revealed - this allows precise and measured application, either to your palette or directly to your painting surface depending on your style.

Galeria nozzle 

Wider necked pots: The necks of the 250ml and 500ml pots have been made wider so that you can get at the colour if you want to use a palette knife for example. The wide necks also make it much easier to access every lst drop of colour when you reach the end of the pot.

Steeper shouldered pots: The angle size of the shoulder of both pots has been reduced. This means that colour no longer gets stuck in an inaccessible corner  and combined with the wider neck of the pots, this means you can easily reach any colour held in the corners with your brush or palette knife!

Galeria pot with wide neck and steep shoulders 

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Pigment Strength and Purity

Galeria enjoys a good to high level of pigmentation, which gives artists from beginner to professional a good correlation to artists' acrylics, making it easier in the transition to artists' grade when a wider choice and even higher pigment strength is needed.

Although Galeria is sometimes referred to as ‘student grade' the high levels of pigment deliver professional results with significantly better covering power than many similarly priced brands. (See our section below on Opacity and Covering Power to understand more.)

During the process of searching for new pigments, suggested colours are made by our chemists and these Leneta cards are just one way we look at the proposals. These examples show how Galeria is a stronger colour when mixed to a tint 1:10 with Titanium White, vs. the competitor acrylic A= Galeria B= Competitor

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Improved Colours

Galeria also benefits from the improvements we have made to 20 colours, from increased opacity to stronger colour with no change in hue. (See the table below).

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Spectrum and new colours

Galeria Acrylic Colours have been chosen to offer a wide and balanced spectrum of bright and vibrant colours, giving the artist excellent choice and the ability to select a palette that best suits their work. Each colour has been specially selected by looking at individual pigment characteristics in both mass and undertone such as hue, colour bias, purity, brightness, transparency, tinting strength and stability.

We have also extended the range to include 10 NEW colours taking the total number to 60. With these colours Galeria offers an even wider choice for your palette.

The 10 new Galeria colours 

The advantage of Galeria is that the range covers every requirement - from the essential colours for your basic palette, to unique colours not achievable through mixtures, to colours formulated from professional artist grade pigments.

Our objective is to offer the best possible choice of colours to the artist at an affordable price, providing exceptional value for money.

The spectrum also includes a number of tints (colour plus white). These ready mixed colours enable the artist to select and apply the colour quickly and easily, without having to worry about consistent colour mixing.

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Genuine Artists' Pigments

Winsor & Newton are the first to introduce some of the higher performance pigments, which are more normally found in artists’ acrylics, into our lower priced range, namely Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Medium, Cobalt Blue, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Green Gold, Transparent Yellow & Opera Rose. This widens the choice across the spectrum within the economical option of Galeria.

Artists' pigments in the Galeria range 

Colours made from cadmium pigments constitute an important part of the artists’ palette.  Cadmium Yellow Medium and Cadmium Red Medium offer unique colours, good opacity and excellent lightfastness which are unmatched by other pigments available.  Cobalt Blue is a semi opaque blue with great permanence.  As the genuine pigment does not contain any white, it is therefore not only useful in its own right but resultant colour mixtures are less chalky. 

Galeria now offers a choice to the artist between these genuine pigments, priced at a Series 2, and the hues, which provide an equivalent tonal alternative, priced at Series 1.  

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Colour Series

As the cost of the pigments used for Galeria Acrylic colours varies, so does the price charged for each colour. Therefore we have grouped colours together into two 'series'. The higher the series number, the higher the price. You can find the series number both on the colour chart and on the tube, they are marked as S1 or S2.

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Opacity and Covering Power 

Covering power is the ability of a pigment to a) go a long way or b) cover previous layers. This characteristic is a combination of the natural strength of the pigment, the quantity used and its degree of inherent opacity.

Transparent

Semi Transparent

Semi Opaque

Opaque

On the Winsor & Newton Colour chart, the transparent colours are marked with  or T, the semi-transparent colours are marked  or ST. The relatively semiopaque colours are marked with  or SO and the opaque colours are marked with  or O.Transparency however is relative and the ratings are provided as a guide only.

In Galeria there are different degrees of covering power from different colours, as some pigments are naturally more transparent, for example Raw Sienna. This is only right - a range which concentrates on one characteristic above all others would prevent it from being used in other techniques. In this way Galeria is extremely versatile since it offers a sophisticated degree of variation.

However Winsor & Newton understands the needs of artists and aims to offer the greatest choice. Therefore Galeria now offers opaque versions of some naturally transparent pigments. Such as Raw Sienna Opaque and Burnt Sienna Opaque. 

Despite the opacity or transparency of the pigments, the following colours have great covering power: Pale Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Medium, Burgundy, Pale Violet, Winsor Violet, Poweder Blue, Cobalt Blue Hue, Winsor Blue, Prussian Blue Hue, Cerulean Blue Hue, Pale Olive, Sap Green, Olive Green, Hooker's Green, Permanent Green Deep, Phthalo Green,  Deep Turquoise, Buff Titanium, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna Opaque, Raw Sienna, Burn Sienna Opaque, Pale Teracotta, Burnt Umber, Pale Umber, Raw Umber, Vandyke Brown, Paynes Gray, Ivory Black, Lamp Black, Mars Black, Titanium White and Process Cyan. 

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Permanence and Lightfastness

As permanence is especially important in acrylic colour, we ensure all Galeria acrylic colours are rated AA or A (except Opera Rose*), ensuring the whole range is recommended as ‘Permanent for artists' use'.

*Opera Rose is a B rating; however it has the highest lightfastness rating within its own pigment category. The unique brightness of this pigment is important despite its B rating.

The lightfastness of a paint colour or pigment is how resistant to fading it is, or how unaffected by light it is. Many ‘student’ or low cost acrylics will often use less permanent pigments, which will fade, sometimes within months. This is particularly notable in the red, yellow and violet area. Galeria does not use any of these less permanent pigments – Galeria uses pure pigments that don’t fade so that your artworks maintain their original colour for decades.

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Versatility

Acrylic colour is becoming increasingly popular because it is so versatile. It can be used on the widest variety of surfaces, (providing they are grease free and properly prepared); paper, canvas, hardboard, timber, sculpture, brickwork and plaster - so you can use it whatever your painting style.

It can be applied both thinly and thickly and at any dilution in between and is easy to use and clean up. Galeria ensures the artist has an acrylic with the best all round handling characteristics and performance at an affordable price.

Galeria, can be used straight from the tube/ pot or thinned or thickened with a medium or water. This variety in consistency makes Galeria suitable for both oil and water colour techniques.

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Brush Stroke Retention

In comparison to oil, acrylics generally have less ‘body'. We've worked hard to achieve a good buttery consistency for quick and easy coverage with Galeria but we've made sure that the brush marks you make stay there. If you start with a very fluid low cost acrylic and you want any brush marks you'll need to buy a medium and spend time mixing it in.

Some other brands of acrylic have a thick consistency out of the pot or tube, yet level off on the canvas.

Galeria palette knife peaks retained

Levelled off alternative acrylic brand

Easy Dilution

During the last decade we've been able to build upon the wider choice of raw materials and produce for Galeria a buttery consistency that will continue to reduce generally as water is added.

You can easily experience this by diluting Galeria with a soft brush rather than a bristle brush.

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Satin Finish

Winsor & newton research has found that most acrylic artists prefer an even satin finish and the improved formulations provide this with excellent depth of colour, makeing colour matching easier from wet to dry. Matt or gloss finsihes can easily be obtained by adding the appropriate Galeria medium.

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Drying Times

Thin films of colour will dry in 10-20 minutes, thicker films can take an hour or more.

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Upgrading to Artists' Acrylic Colour

Acrylic colour relies upon the variable characteristics of the pigments used in each colour in order to achieve results.  Therefore, being able to choose from the widest possible range of pigments means that you have greater choice and flexibility to develop your work and technique.

Upgrading to our Artists' Acrylic Colour range means that you will have a much wider and balanced spectrum of colours to choose from, giving you the widest choice of pigments as well as unparalleled brilliance of colour.
Find out more about Artists' Acrylic Colour.

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