Blue

Blue is the most popular color in the world, according to various sources. The color is favored by around half of both genders, and has been used to symbolize all sorts of things--harmony, peace, calm, purity (the Virgin Mary), as well as melancholy and intelligence and so on. As it happens, blue is my own favorite, and that set me searching for more. Blue pigment--powdered minerals most likely--dates to deep prehistory.

Raphael, "The Alba Madonna," oil, 1510

Azurite, a natural blue, copper-containing mineral, was the first blue color used in much of the world. It shows up in much of the world. Another pigment known as Egyptian blue is found in that ancient kingdom and other ancient civilizations. Egyptian blue was prepared first there and was used throughout their decorative and religious art. Egyptian blue was  used into the era of the Roman Empire.

Other blue pigments and dyes were known but they had problems. Some tended to disappear or change color in a short time, while azurite did not. Woad (a plant source for indigo) was known to fade.

Besides Egyptian blue, permanent natural minerals were used for many centuries, particularly azurite but also the extremely expensive lapis lazuli, a gemstone. Lapis lazuli was imported to Europe in those days from mines in Afghanistan, hence the name "ultramarine blue," denoting that the precious stones were imported from across the sea. Because of the expense of blue pigments during the Renaissance and afterward, commissions often specified the kind and quantity of blue pigment to be used in a painting. It was no accident that in religious paintings only the Virgin Mary would be draped or clad in blue. A natural cobalt blue was used in colored glass, but not as a pigment, until an artificial cobalt pigment was prepared.

Diego Velazquez, "Francisco Lezcano, " oil, 1645

Less permanent blue colors were known, too, including smalt, in which the pigment particles were finely-ground blue glass and woad, a vegetable dye. Both were fugitive, so that paintings with smalt blues painted in the 17th century have faded. For example, in the famous painting of a dwarf by Diego Velazquez (right) the smalt used in the sky has faded to grey. It was likely more vivid when first applied.

The first true artificial blue was Prussian blue, a very intense dark blue, which was produced and marketed in the early 18th century, followed not long after by two more: cobalt blue and cerulean. Today, of course, with advances in organic chemistry, an enormous range of blues is available. In particular, phthalocyanine colors have become cheap and widely available.

Pablo Picasso, "The Old Guitarist," oil, 1903

Blue being a favorite color of so many, it is no surprise that quite a few painters love it. Pablo Picasso, for example, spent a period of several years (1901-1903) making paintings that were predominantly a cool blue color. In his particular case, that group of paintings seem to have arisen from a state of depression triggered by the suicide of a friend. Some of Picasso's greatest works, like The Old Guitarist, arose from those times. Though these are a renowned group of works today, at the time they weren't popular and did not sell well. Times change, of course.

Monochrome works became more popular in the 20th century, probably because of the influence of mass media, particularly commercial advertising. Some painters have even based their entire bodies of work on a particular color. Frederic Remington's nocturnes are a good example.

"Mourning," casein, 2017

Because I'm a fan of Remington and because I enjoy monochrome, my own work has occasionally veered toward blue. In "Mourning," a casein painting of a blue, twilit forest, a huge old tree has snapped at the base and fallen. The other, smaller trees grouped about the trunk stand vigil. Although the title is suggestive, narrative isn't necessarily the point, nor for that matter should any metaphor be inferred.