Sorry to drag up an old thread, but one of the lads picked up a library book yesterday that I thought might interest some of the people who originally took part in this discussion. It's called "Le piano des couleurs," by Massin, published by Gallimard Jeunesse (2004); it's got fantastic pictures by Laure, and a quite serious discussion (for a child's picture book) of this whole phenomenon.
The afterword amused me, invoking Mersenne, Champollion, Balzac, ETA Hoffmann, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Boris Vian, Huysmans, Théophile Gautier, George Sand, Proust (and a dozen others)...in a 24-page kids' book...gotta love the French!
peace
minnie
