The present paper analyses the meaning and mode of operation of the dramatic resource of the disputationes de colores in Calderón de la Barca's drama, present in the comedia palatina La banda y la fl or and in the loas to the autos sacramentales Los misterios de la misa and La lepra de Constantino. First of all, the article gives an account of the different "juegos de colores" that the Comedia nueva incorporates, to then highlight the place that disputationes occupy in them, and finally move towards an interpretation of the chromatic symbolism exposed in the three plays mentioned. It considers the ludic function and the forms of allegorical articulation of the disputationes de colores in the light of the dramatic genre in which every play is inscribed.