With winter settling in, grass and plants turned brown and the sky is gray. Looking for a little color, we headed to the Field Museum, where Wild Color fulfilled that need.

Photo courtesy of the Filed Museum.

Described as “a walk through the rainbow,” Wild Color is one of the newer exhibits at Field Museum in Chicago. Each room throughout the 7,000-square-foot exhibition represents a color of the rainbow. Wild Color is all about colors in nature. The multisensory exhibit includes vibrant visuals, large-scale media projections and soundscapes featuring gems, minerals, plants and animals.

The displays reveal colors in nature we see — as well as ones we don’t — because the human eye cannot detect some shades. The science behind that is explained, too. The colors of animals can warn predators and attract mates. The shades of plants signal many things to animals. The brilliance and sparkle of gems can indicate how they were formed. Wild Color explains the science behind it all and how it works together.

Wild Color photo courtesy of the Filed Museum.

There are many interactive displays. One of the coolest is a large-scale projection that transforms you into a yellow butterfly.

Rainbow array of tanagers photo courtesy of the Field Museum.

Wild Color is enjoyable on two levels. Simply seeing all the colors in nature is amazing enough, but the more inquisitive folks can delve deeper into the science of the colors.

Spiny oyster (Spondylus pictorum) photo courtesy of the Field Museum.

The Wild Color exhibit runs through Jan. 8, 2023. It is one of several interesting exhibits, including Tinasaur 3D: The Story of Maximo, Underground Adventure and The Machine Inside: Biomechanics.

— John Wroblewski, online writer