For The colour circles series Eliasson collaborated with master printmaker Niels Borch Jensen in 2008 to create a three-part series of nine polymer gravures. Each of the three parts comprises three large colour wheels assembled from three sheets of paper.

The first print of the series, called The constant colour circle, presents a colour wheel based on the three traditional primary colours from art history – red, yellow, and blue – that transitions smoothly from one hue to the next through three secondary and eighteen intermediate colours. The constant colour circle functions as a base for the colour mixtures featured in all of the other circles in The colour circle series.

For the second part of the series, Eliasson took the primary colours as a point of departure. For The blue colour circle, for example, he added a tiny amount of each of the other hues from The constant colour circle to the primary blue in order to create a colour wheel of various blue tones. He used the same technique for the red and yellow circles, yielding a wide range of intermediate tones.

The grey colour circle explores a particular shade of grey, mixed with a very small amount of each hue from The constant colour circle (based on the three primary colours: red, blue and yellow, which are mixed to create a total of 21 interstitial colours). From a distance, the grey hues appear to be similar, but upon closer inspection they reveal a subtle colour sequence.