Perylene green (PBk31)

November 11, 2025

When I read my old articles about different watercolor paints, I often notice that they are unnecessarily sparse with information that could be both useful and interesting for readers. I therefore plan to rewrite several of my earlier texts about watercolor pigments.

Below is the updated and more detailed version of Perylene Green, now with additional illustrations.

Perylene Green is a black-green pigment developed by the German chemical company BASF. The pigment is highly stable, resistant to chemical reactions, heatproof, and lightfast. For this reason, it is often used in car paints, industrial printing inks, and various plastics.

As a watercolor pigment, Perylene Green was introduced in the 1990s, primarily by Daniel Smith, although both Winsor & Newton and Schmincke were early to include it in their ranges.

The color quickly became popular among nature painters because it could replace black while still retaining a natural green tone. Perylene Green is not only useful as a black-green hue in landscapes – it also works beautifully as a value reducer for many browns, reds, and even yellows. Neutral tones can be mixed by combining it with nearly any red or violet.

It is a semi-transparent, staining, greenish-black pigment with excellent lightfastness. When it dries, it loses only a little in value and none in hue, and it does not granulate.

One student at one of my watercolor courses in Tuscany called it cypress green – a very apt name, since it’s perfect for distant Tuscan cypresses.

Perylene Green also works beautifully as a shadow color in portraits; its black-green tone complements warm skin tones very well. It is an asset in all kinds of landscape painting, and it also lends itself well to other subjects, such as still lifes, depending on the palette and context.

**French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Violet, and Perylene Green**

**Perylene Green, Nickel Dioxine Yellow, and Quinacridone Violet**

In summary, Perylene Green is a highly versatile color – not primarily for painting greens, but as a shadow tone, value reducer, and mixing color in countless combinations. The degree of blackness varies between manufacturers, as does the hue, which can range from a more neutral green to a slightly bluish tone.