AbstractGradient meshes are a vector graphics primitive formed by a regular grid of bicubic quad patches. They allow for the creation of complex geometries and colour gradients, with recent extensions supporting features such as local refinement and sharp colour transitions. While many methods exist for recolouring raster images, often achieved by modifying an automatically detected palette of the image, gradient meshes have not received the same amount of attention when it comes to global colour editing. We present a novel method that allows for real‐time palette‐based recolouring of gradient meshes, including gradient meshes constructed using local refinement and containing sharp colour transitions. We demonstrate the utility of our method on synthetic illustrative examples as well as on complex gradient meshes.