All art masterpieces from the Renaissance period have one thing in common: they all have the color blue in them. Does this mean there was an unspoken rule that only great artists could use blue in their paintings? Today, blue is used by many airlines as a brand color as blue is known to instill a sense of trust and stability. In this article, we will explore the economics of color throughout history.

Ultramarine — Color That Made Painters Cry and Laugh

The Catholic Church of the 13th century dictated that Mary be painted in blue. The requirement entailed a critical challenge: blue paint was as expensive as gold at the time. “Ultramarine,” one of the colors that represent Renaissance art, means that the color comes from an “ultra” far place like the sea (“marine”), as the name suggests. Ultramarine pigment was made of lapis lazuli, which was imported from Afghanistan, meaning that a tremendous amount of shipping and distribution costs were involved in keeping the pigment price high. 

The Catholic Church of the 13th century dictated that Mary be painted in blue. The requirement entailed a critical challenge: blue paint was as expensive as gold at the time. “Ultramarine,” one of the colors that represent Renaissance art, means that the color comes from an “ultra” far place like the sea (“marine”), as the name suggests. Ultramarine pigment was made of lapis lazuli, which was imported from Afghanistan, meaning that a tremendous amount of shipping and distribution costs were involved in keeping the pigment price high. 

The majority of paintings at the time were religious ones about the content of the Bible and the Church. As the production of these paintings required expensive pigments and labor costs for painters, wealthy patrons would hire painters to commission the artworks and gift the paintings to the Church as their offering. Blue was the most appropriate color to profess one’s faith because the color was not only beautiful but also costly. Many religious paintings from this period depict Mary, Jesus, and other saints in deep blue. However, the high price tag of the blue pigment would drive painters into poverty or prevent them from creating artworks they had in mind. 

The Entombment, which is known to have been painted by Michelangelo before he became the revered artist, does not depict Mary. The reason behind the missing Mary was the lack of a patron that could sponsor him with the expensive blue pigment, which had to be used to depict Mary in a painting.

In fact, expensive paints such as ultramarine would account for as much as 40% of the cost of producing artwork. It is recorded that artist Johannes Vermeer, who painted Girl with a Pearl Earring, went bankrupt because of his excessive love for the color blue.

Another expensive color was red. The red pigment was made from cochineal, a type of scale insect. Producing red pigment from the cochineal required a massive amount of time and cost. About 70,000 cochineals were used to generate about 450 grams of red pigment. Red, the highly valued color, was used only to depict the uniforms of the British Empire's royal families, aristocrats, and military officers. 

Science Behind RGB Colors

As illustrated above, colors in the past were used as a tool to signify social and economic status. In today’s world, the science of color is used across a variety of fields. The human retina has receptors for red, green, and blue (RGB) light. Science of color, therefore, does make a significant difference in displays and lighting. 

Blue, which used to be considered sacred due to its rarity and high price, has established itself as a color that instills a sense of reliability and stability and boosts creativity. Blue light, which has the highest energy level and shortest wavelength in the visible spectrum, has a high transmission rate. This means that it stays longer in our sight, enhancing the ability to focus and a sense of stability. That is why many insurers, financial companies, IT companies such as IBM, and airlines such as United Airlines and Singapore Airlines use blue to represent their brand. Blue is also a preferred color for companies such as Intel and DELL Technologies as highly reliable performance is crucial in electronics and electronic component sectors

In addition, leveraging the unique quality of blue that induces a sense of stability, Scotland and Japan installed street lights in blue in districts with high crime rates, successfully reducing rates of violent crimes drastically. Blue light suppresses melatonin secretion and enhances the ability to focus during the day. For this reason, blue light is used in polar regions, where there is little daylight, for light therapy devices to treat sleep disorders. Exposure to blue light is to be avoided at night, however, as it affects the secretion of melatonin.

Primates are the only mammals that have cone cells that detect the color red. The development of cones in the eyes of primates is the result of the evolution of their visual cells from telling red fruits from green leaves and detecting the changes in the color of others’ faces. When it comes to humans, women, generally more sensitive to social signals such as facial expressions and tonal changes in faces, and who spent more time in the past collecting fruits and other food sources rather than hunting, have relatively more advanced visual cells that detect red light.

This explains the more significant usage of red tones in products for women, including cosmetics. In addition, red light has the effect of increasing appetite, which is why food and beverage companies such as Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut, and McDonald’s use red in their logos.

The unique qualities of each color are also used in display technologies. State-of-the-art technologies are being developed, such as blue light reduction to induce natural sleeping rhythms and protect the eyes and plant-cultivating LED lights that facilitate the growth of plants using various colors of light.

Spring brings vibrant colors all around us to please our eyes, and knowing what the colors mean will refresh your perspective on the world. Perhaps we can add more colors to our outfits tomorrow to bring fresh energy to our daily lives!

※ This article holds the editor’s opinion, and Samsung Display Newsroom’s stance or strategies are not reflected.