Indanthrone (indanthrene) PB60
The dye PB60 was developed by the German chemical company BASF in 1901, but it took until the 1950s before it was used as a pigment among artist’s paints. The idea with the pigment...
Category: Colors and pigments
About watercolors and pigments, I describe different watercolors: history, pigments and their painting properties.
Aureolin or Cobalt Yellow (PY40)
The pigment was first produced by the German chemist Nikolaus Wolfgang Fischer in 1831, hence the name Fischers yellow. But later, when the pigment became a paint for artists’ colors, it was called aureolin....
Sap Green (NG2)
Sap green is another of all traditional colors that today is just an imitation. The original color Sap green was made from plant juices that were squeezed from, usually, unripe buckthorn berries, but also...
Cobalt violet (PV14)
The cobalt violet we know today was first manufactured in 1859 by the French chemist Salvetat, the manufacturing process is costly which made the pigment expensive, that it is also very weak, which can...
Cobalt Blue (PB28)
Long before cobalt blue there was a pigment called smalt, cobalt glass ground to a fine powder. Smalt dates back to 2000 BC. It was used mainly for ceramics in ancient Egypt and in...
Madder lake
Real madder is a red dye extracted from the madder root. In ancient Egypt and in Asia, madder was used for textile dyeing. It has been used in Europe at least since the Middle...
Nickel Azo yellow (Transparent Yellow) PY150
Maybe I should admit right away: Nickel Azo yellow is my favorite among yellow colors nowadays. Previously, it had competition from Nickel Dioxin yellow (PY153) and Quinacridone Gold (PO49), but none of these colors...
Paynes Gray (mixed color)
William Payne (1760–1830) was an English artist who liked to paint landscapes with a blue-gray haze, magical landscapes with dramatic cliffs, fantastic waterfalls and dangerous forests. Everything very romantic. He used a color he...
Prussian blue (Iron blue)
Iron blue or Prussian blue is a very old synthetic pigment, it was invented in 1704, by chance, by Heinrich Diesbach who was active in Berlin which was in then Prussia, therefore the color...
Pyrrole Orange (PO71)
Pyrrole Orange is a very intense red-orange color. The pigment is not common, but only a few years ago Schmincke was the only manufacturer to have it, now there are a few more who...
