The colorblue has been important in culture, politics, art and fashion since ancient times. Blue was used inancient Egypt for jewelry and ornament.^[1] In theRenaissance, blue pigments were prized for paintings and fineblue and white porcelain. In theMiddle Ages, deep rich blues made with cobalt were used in stained glass windows. In the 19th century, the color was often used for military uniforms and fashion.

As the color that most symbolized harmony, blue was chosen as the color of the flags of theUnited Nations and theEuropean Union.{2}^{[2][3][page needed]} On 9 December 1955, the Committee of Ministers adopted the Emblem of theCouncil of Europe selecting the colorheraldic azure to represent the blue sky of the Western world.^[4]

Surveys in the US and Europe show that blue is the color most commonly associated with harmony, faithfulness, confidence, distance, infinity, the imagination, cold, and occasionally with sadness.^[5] In US and European public opinion polls it is the most popular color, chosen by almost half of both men and women as their favorite color.^[6] The same surveys also show that blue is the color most associated with the masculine, just ahead of black, and was also the color most associated with intelligence, knowledge, calm, and concentration.^[5]

Blue was a latecomer among colors used in art and decoration, as well as language and literature.^{[7][verification needed]} Reds, blacks, browns, and ochres are found incave paintings from the UpperPaleolithic period, but not blue. Blue was also not used for dyeing fabric until long after red, ochre, pink and purple. This is probably due to the perennial difficulty of making good blue dyes and pigments.^[8] The earliest known blue dyes were made from plants –woad in Europe,indigo in Asia and Africa, while blue pigments were made from minerals, usually eitherlapis lazuli orazurite.^{[citation needed]}

Lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone, has been mined inAfghanistan for more than three thousand years, and was exported to all parts of the ancient world.^[9] Blue glazedfaience ornaments have been found to have been produced during 4th millenniumIndus Valley civilization (present day India and Pakistan).^[10] In Iran and Mesopotamia, it was used to make jewellery and vessels. In Egypt, it was used for the eyebrows on the funeral mask ofKing Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BC).^[11] Importing lapis lazuli by caravan across the desert from Afghanistan to Egypt was very expensive. Beginning in about 2500 BC, the ancient Egyptians began to produce their own blue pigment known asEgyptian blue by grindingsilica,lime,copper, andalkalai, and heating it to 800 or 900 °C (1,470 or 1,650 °F). This is considered the first syntheticpigment.^[12] Egyptian blue was used to paint wood,papyrus andcanvas, and was used to color a glaze to makefaience beads, inlays, and pots. It was particularly used in funeral statuary and figurines and in tomb paintings. Blue was considered a beneficial color which would protect the dead against evil in theafterlife. Blue dye was also used to color the cloth in which mummies were wrapped.^[13]

In Egypt blue was associated with the sky and withdivinity. The Egyptian godAmun could make his skin blue so that he could fly, invisible, across the sky. Blue could also protect against evil; many people around the Mediterranean still wear a blueamulet, representing the eye of God, to protect them from misfortune.^[14] Blue glass was manufactured inMesopotamia and Egypt as early as 2500 BC, using the same copper ingredients as Egyptian blue pigment. They also added cobalt, which produced a deeper blue, the same blue produced in the Middle Ages in the stained glass windows of the cathedrals of Saint-Denis and Chartres.^[15] TheIshtar Gate of ancientBabylon (604–562 BC) was decorated with deep blue glazed bricks used as a background for pictures of lions, dragons andaurochs.^[16]

The ancient Greeks classified colors by whether they were light or dark, rather than by their hue. The Greek word for dark blue,kyaneos, could also mean dark green, violet, black or brown. The ancient Greek word for a light blue,glaukos, also could mean light green, grey, or yellow.^[17] The Greeks imported indigo dye from India, calling it indikon. They used Egyptian blue in the wall paintings ofKnossos, inCrete, around 2100 BC. It was not one of the four primary colors for Greek painting described byPliny the Elder (red, yellow, black, and white), but nonetheless it was used as a background color behind the friezes on Greek temples and to color the beards of Greek statues.^[18]

The Romans also imported indigo dye, but blue was the color of working class clothing; the nobles and rich wore white, black, red, or violet. Blue was considered the color of mourning and the color of barbarians.Julius Caesar reported that theCelts and Germans dyed their faces blue to frighten their enemies, and tinted their hair blue when they grew old.^[19] Nonetheless, the Romans made extensive use of blue for decoration. According toVitruvius, they made dark blue pigment from indigo, and imported Egyptian blue pigment. The walls of Roman villas inPompeii hadfrescoes of brilliant blue skies, and blue pigments were found in the shops of color merchants.^[18] The Romans had many different words for varieties of blue, includingcaeruleus,caesius,glaucus,cyaneus,lividus,venetus,aerius, andferreus, but two words, both of foreign origin, became the most enduring;blavus, from the Germanic wordblau, which eventually becamebleu or blue; andazureus, from the Arabic wordlazaward, which became azure.^[20]

• 
  Lapis lazuli pendant fromMesopotamia (c. 2900 BC).
• 
  A lapis lazuli bowl from Iran (end of 3rd, beginning 2nd millennium BC)
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  A hippopotamus decorated with aquatic plants, made of faience with a blue glaze, made to resemble lapis lazuli. (2033–1710 BC)
• 
  Egyptian blue colour in a tomb painting (c. 1500 BC)
• 
  Egyptian faience bowl (c. 1550 and 1450 BC)
• 
  a decorated cobalt glass vessel from Ancient Egypt (1450–1350 BC)
• 
  Figure of a servant from the tomb of King Seth I (1244–1279 BC). The figure is made offaience with a blue glaze, designed to resemble turquoise.
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  A lion against a blue background from theIshtar Gate of ancientBabylon. (575 BC)
• 
  A Roman wall painting of Venus and her sonEros, from Pompeii (about 30 BC)
• 
  Mural in the bedroom of the villa of Fannius Synestor inBoscoreale, (50–40 BC) in theMetropolitan Museum.
• 
  A painted pottery pot coloured withHan blue from theHan dynasty in China (206 BC to AD 220).
• 
  A tomb painting from the easternHan dynasty (AD 25–220) inHenan Province,China.

Dark blue was widely used in the decoration of churches in theByzantine Empire. In Byzantine art,Jesus and theVirgin Mary usually wore dark blue or purple. Blue was used as a background color representing the sky in the magnificentmosaics which decorated Byzantine churches.^[21]

In the Islamic world, blue was of secondary importance to green, believed to be the favourite color of theProphet Mohammed.^{[22][citation needed]} At certain times inMoorish Spain and other parts of the Islamic world, blue was the color worn by Christians and Jews, because only Muslims were allowed to wear white and green.^[23] Dark blue and turquoise decorative tiles were widely used to decorate the facades and interiors of mosques and palaces from Spain to Central Asia. Lapis lazuli pigment was also used to create the rich blues inPersian miniatures.^{[citation needed]}

• 
  Blue Byzantine mosaic ceiling representing the night sky in theMausoleum of Galla Placidia inRavenna, Italy (5th century).
• 
  Blue mosaic in the cloak of Christ in theHagia Sophia church inIstanbul (13th century).
• 
  Glazed stone-paste bowl fromPersia (14th century).
• 
  Blue tile on the facade of the Friday Mosque inHerat,Afghanistan (15th century).
• 
  Persian miniature from the 16th century.
• 
  Blue domes of the Church dedicated to St. Spirou in Firostefani,Santorini island (Thira), Greece.
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  Flower-pattern tile fromIznik, Turkey, from the second half of the 16th century.

In the art and life of Europe during the earlyMiddle Ages, blue played a minor role. The nobility wore red or purple, while only the poor wore blue clothing, colored with poor-quality dyes made from thewoad plant. Blue played no part in the rich costumes of the clergy or the architecture or decoration of churches. This changed dramatically between 1130 and 1140 in Paris, when theAbbe Suger rebuilt theSaint Denis Basilica. He installedstained glass windows colored withcobalt, which, combined with the light from the red glass, filled the church with a bluish violet light. The church became the marvel of theChristian world, and the color became known as the"bleu de Saint-Denis". In the years that followed even more elegant blue stained glass windows were installed in other churches, including atChartres Cathedral andSainte-Chapelle in Paris.^[24]

Another important factor in the increased prestige of the color blue in the 12th century was the veneration of theVirgin Mary, and a change in the colors used to depict her clothing. In earlier centuries her robes had usually been painted in sombre black, grey, violet, dark green or dark blue. In the 12th century the Roman Catholic Church dictated that painters in Italy (and the rest of Europe consequently) to paint the Virgin Mary with the new most expensive pigment imported from Asia;ultramarine blue became associated with holiness, humility and virtue.^[25]

Ultramarine was made from lapis lazuli, from the mines ofBadakshan, in the mountains of Afghanistan, near the source of theOxus River. The mines were visited byMarco Polo in about 1271; he reported, "here is found a high mountain from which they extract the finest and most beautiful of blues." Ground lapis was used in Byzantine manuscripts as early as the 6th century, but it was impure and varied greatly in colour. Ultramarine refined out the impurities through a long and difficult process, creating a rich and deep blue. It was calledbleu outremer in French andblu oltremare in Italian, since it came from the other side of the sea. For this very reason it cost far more than any other colour, and therefore became the luxury colour for the kings and princes of Europe.^[26]

KingLouis IX of France, better known as Saint Louis (1214–1270), became the first king of France to regularly dress in blue. This was copied by other nobles. Paintings of the mythicalKing Arthur began to show him dressed in blue. The coat of arms of the kings of France became an azure or light blue shield, sprinkled with goldenfleur-de-lis or lilies. Blue had come from obscurity to become the royal colour.^[27]

Once blue became the color of the king, it also became the color of the wealthy and powerful in Europe. In the Middle Ages in France and to some extent in Italy, the dyeing of blue cloth was subject to license from the crown or state. In Italy, the dyeing of blue was assigned to a specific guild, thetintori di guado, and could not be done by anyone else without severe penalty. The wearing of blue implied some dignity and some wealth.^[28]

Besides ultramarine, several other blues were widely used in the Middle Ages and later in the Renaissance.Azurite, a form of copper carbonate, was often used as a substitute for ultramarine. The Romans used it under the name lapis armenius, or Armenian stone. The British called it azure of Amayne, or German azure. The Germans themselves called itbergblau, or mountain stone. It was mined in France, Hungary, Spain and Germany, and it made a pale blue with a hint of green, which was ideal for painting skies. It was a favourite background colour of the German painterAlbrecht Dürer.^[29]

Another blue often used in the Middle Ages was called tournesol or folium. It was made from the plantcrozophora tinctoria, which grew in the south of France. It made a fine transparent blue valued in medieval manuscripts.^[30]

Another common blue pigment wassmalt, which was made by grinding blue cobalt glass into a fine powder. It made a deep violet blue similar to ultramarine, and was vivid in frescoes, but it lost some of its brilliance in oil paintings. It became especially popular in the 17th century, when ultramarine was difficult to obtain. It was employed at times byTitian,Tintoretto,Veronese,El Greco,Van Dyck,Rubens andRembrandt.^[31]

• 
  Stained glass windows of the Basilica of Saint Denis (1141–1144).
• 
  Notre Dame de la Belle Verrière window, Chartres Cathedral. (1180–1225).
• 
  Detail of the windows at Sainte-Chapelle (1250).
• 
  The Maesta byDuccio (1308) showed the Virgin Mary in a robe painted with ultramarine. Blue became the colour of holiness, virtue and humility.
• 
  In the 12th century blue became part of the royal coat of arms of France.
• 
  TheWilton Diptych, made for KingRichard II of England, made lavish use ofultramarine. (About 1400)
• 
  The Coronation of King Louis VIII of France in 1223 showed that blue had become the royal colour. (painted in 1450).

In the Renaissance, a revolution occurred in painting; artists began to paint the world as it was actually seen, with perspective, depth, shadows, and light from a single source. Artists had to adapt their use of blue to the new rules. In medieval paintings, blue was used to attract the attention of the viewer to the Virgin Mary, and identify her. In Renaissance paintings, artists tried to create harmonies between blue and red, lightening the blue with lead white paint and adding shadows and highlights.Raphael was a master of this technique, carefully balancing the reds and the blues so no one colour dominated the picture.^[32]

Ultramarine was the most prestigious blue of the Renaissance, and patrons sometimes specified that it be used in paintings they commissioned. The contract for theMadone des Harpies byAndrea del Sarto (1514) required that the robe of the Virgin Mary be coloured with ultramarine costing "at least five good florins an ounce."^[33] Good ultramarine was more expensive than gold; in 1508 the German painterAlbrecht Dürer reported in a letter that he had paid twelve ducats – the equivalent of 41 g (1.4 oz) of gold – for just 30 g (1.1 oz) of ultramarine.^[34]

Often painters or clients saved money by using less expensive blues, such as azurite smalt, or pigments made with indigo, but this sometimes caused problems. Pigments made from azurite were less expensive, but tended to turn dark and green with time. An example is the robe of the Virgin Mary in TheMadonna and Child Enthroned with Saints byRaphael in theMetropolitan Museum in New York. The Virgin Mary's azurite blue robe has degraded into a greenish-black.^[35]

The introduction of oil painting changed the way colours looked and how they were used. Ultramarine pigment, for instance, was much darker when used in oil painting than when used intempera paintings or in frescoes. To balance their colors, Renaissance artists like Raphael added white to lighten the ultramarine. The sombre dark blue robe of the Virgin Mary became a brilliant sky blue.^[36]Titian created his rich blues by using many thin glazes of paint of different blues and violets which allowed the light to pass through, which made a complex and luminous colour, like stained glass. He also used layers of finely ground or coarsely ground ultramarine, which gave subtle variations to the blue.^[37]

• 
  Giotto was one of the first Italian Renaissance painters to useultramarine, here in the murals of the Arena Chapel inPadua (c. 1305).
• 
  Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, the robes of theVirgin Mary were painted withultramarine. This isThe Virgin of Humility byFra Angelico (about 1430). Blue fills the picture.
• 
  In theMadonna of the Meadow (1506), Raphael used white to soften the ultramarine blue of Virgin Mary's robes to balance the red and blue, and to harmonize with the rest of the picture.
• 
  Titian used an ultramarine sky and robes to give depth and brilliance to hisBacchus and Ariadne (1520–1523)
• 
  In this painting ofThe Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints an early work byRaphael in theMetropolitan Museum of Art, the blue cloak of the Virgin Mary has turned a green-black. It was painted with less-expensiveazurite.
• 
  GlazedTerracotta ofThe Virgin Adoring the Christ Child, from the workshop ofAndrea della Robbia (1483)
• 
  TheTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry was the most important illuminated manuscript of the 15th century. The blue was the extravagantly expensive ultramarine.

Extract of naturalindigo, the most popular blue dye before the invention of synthetic indigo

Cobalt coloured thestained glass windows ofSainte-Chapelle in Paris (1250)

Prussian blue, the colour of the uniforms of the army ofPrussia, was invented in about 1706

Blue materials have long attracted attention as colourants. Early artists relied on mineral-based pigments derived fromlapis lazuli andultramarine, and to some extentazurite. Ancient Egyptians developed a synthetic copper-based pigment calledEgyptian blue. Medieval artists discovered that cobalt imparted deep blue colours to glasses and glazes. The 1700s witnessed the development of blue dyes and pigments derived from organic precursors. These werePrussian blue andindigo. The former was readily prepared in the laboratory and readily incorporated into paints. It had a major impact on the art world. Indigo was ideally suited for dying fabrics. Vast areas were dedicated to the cultivation of indigo. The latter part of the 1800s witnessed the explosive development of synthetic organic dyes including synthetic indigo andcopper phthalocyanine.^[38]

In about the 9th century, Chinese artisans abandoned theHan blue colour they had used for centuries, and began to usecobalt blue, made withcobalt salts ofalumina, to manufacture fineblue and white porcelain, The plates and vases were shaped, dried, the paint applied with a brush, covered with a clear glaze, then fired at a high temperature. Beginning in the 14th century, this type of porcelain was exported in large quantity to Europe where it inspired a whole style of art, calledChinoiserie. European courts tried for many years to imitate Chinese blue and white porcelain but only succeeded in the 18th century after a missionary brought the secret back from China.^[39]

Other famous white and blue patterns appeared in Delft, Meissen, Staffordshire, and Saint Petersburg, Russia.

• 
  Chineseblue and white porcelain from about 1335, made in Jingdezhen, the porcelain centre of China. Exported to Europe, this porcelain launched the style ofChinoiserie.
• 
  Asoft-paste porcelain vase made inRouen, France, at the end of the 17th century, imitating Chinese blue and white.
• 
  18th century blue and white pottery fromDelft, in the Netherlands.
• 
  Russian porcelain of the cobalt net pattern, made withcobalt blue pigment. TheImperial Porcelain Factory inSaint Petersburg was founded in 1744. This pattern, first produced in 1949, was copied after a design made forCatherine the Great.

In the 17th century,Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, was one of the first rulers to give his army blue uniforms. The reasons were economic; the German states were trying to protect their pastel dye industry against competition from imported indigo dye. When Brandenburg became the Kingdom ofPrussia in 1701, the uniform colour was adopted by the Prussian army. Most German soldiers wore dark blue uniforms until theFirst World War, with the exception of the Bavarians, who wore light blue.^[40]

In 1748, the British uniform for naval officers was officially established as an embroidered coat of the colour then called marine blue, now known asnavy blue.^[41] In the late 18th century, the blue uniform became a symbol of liberty and revolution. In October 1774, even before the United States declared its independence,George Mason and one hundred Virginia neighbours ofGeorge Washington organized a voluntary militia unit (the Fairfax County Independent Company of Volunteers) and elected Washington the honorary commander. For their uniforms they chose blue andbuff, the colours of theWhig Party, the opposition party in England, whose policies were supported by George Washington and many otherpatriots in the American colonies.^[42][43]

When theContinental Army was established in 1775 at the outbreak of theAmerican Revolution, the firstContinental Congress declared that the official uniform colour would be brown, but this was not popular with many militias, whose officers were already wearing blue. In 1778 the Congress asked George Washington to design a new uniform, and in 1779 Washington made the official colour of all uniforms blue andbuff. Blue continued to be the colour of the field uniform of the US Army until 1902, and is still the colour of the dress uniform.^[44]

In France theGardes Françaises, the elite regiment which protectedLouis XVI, wore dark blue uniforms with red trim. In 1789, the soldiers gradually changed their allegiance from the king to the people, and they played a leading role in thestorming of the Bastille. Blue became the colour of the revolutionary armies, opposed to the white uniforms of the Royalists and the Austrians.^[45]

Napoleon Bonaparte abandoned many of the doctrines of the French Revolution but he kept blue as the uniform colour for his army, although he had great difficulty obtaining the blue dye, since the British held naval control in theAtlantic and blocked the importation of indigo to France. Napoleon was forced to dye uniforms with woad, which had an inferior blue colour.^[46] The French army wore a dark blue uniform coat with red trousers until 1915, when it was found to be a too visible target on the battlefields ofWorld War I. It was replaced with uniforms of a light blue-grey colour called horizon blue.

Blue was the colour of liberty and revolution in the 18th century, but in the 19th it increasingly became the colour of government authority, the uniform colour of policemen and other public servants. It was considered serious and authoritative, without being menacing. In 1829, whenRobert Peel established theMetropolitan Police in London, he made the colour of the uniform jacket a dark, almost black blue, to make the policemen look different from the red coated soldiers, who had on occasion been used to enforce order. The traditional blue jacket with silver buttons of the London "bobbie" was not abandoned until the mid-1990s, when it was replaced for all but formal occasions by a jumper or sweater of the colour officially known as NATO blue.^[47]

TheNew York City Police Department, modelled after London's Metropolitan Police, was established in 1844, and in 1853, they were officially given a navy blue uniform, the colour they wear today.^[48]

Navy blue is one of the most popular school uniform colours, with the Toronto Catholic District School Board adopting a dress code policy which requires students system-wide to wear white tops and navy blue bottoms.^[49]

• 
  Uniform of a lieutenant in theRoyal Navy (1777). Marine blue became the official colour of the Royal Navy uniform coat in 1748.
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  George Washington chose blue and buff as the colours of theContinental Army uniform. They were the colours of the EnglishWhig Party, which Washington admired.
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  TheMarquis de Lafayette in the uniform of theGarde Nationale during the French Revolution (1790).
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  A Coast GuardMaritime Security Response Team (MSRT) executing a boarding action from anMH-60 Jayhawk helicopter.
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  The cadets of theEcole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, the French military academy, still wear the blue and red uniform of the French army before 1915.
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  Metropolitan Police officers in Soho, London (2007).
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  School children inIndia. School uniforms are often blue.
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  New York City police officers on Times Square (2010)

The invention of new synthetic pigments in the 18th and 19th centuries considerably brightened and expanded the palette of painters.J. M. W. Turner experimented with the new cobalt blue, and of the twenty colors most used by theImpressionists, twelve were new and synthetic colours, including cobalt blue, ultramarine and cerulean blue.^[50]

Another important influence on painting in the 19th century was the theory of complementary colors, developed by the French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul in 1828 and published in 1839. He demonstrated that placing complementary colors, such as blue and yellow-orange or ultramarine and yellow, next to each other heightened the intensity of each color "to the apogee of their tonality."^[51] In 1879 an American physicist,Ogden Rood, published a book charting the complementary colors of each color in the spectrum.^[52] This principle of painting was used byClaude Monet in hisImpression, Sunrise (1872), where he put a vivid blue next to a bright orange Sun, (1872) and inRégate à Argenteuil (1872), where he painted an orange Sun against blue water. The colors brighten each other. Renoir used the same contrast of cobalt blue water and an orange Sun inCanotage sur la Seine (1879–1880). Both Monet and Renoir liked to use pure colors, without any blending.^[50]

Monet and the impressionists were among the first to observe that shadows were full of color. In hisLa Gare Saint-Lazare, the grey smoke, vapour and dark shadows are actually composed of mixtures of bright pigment, including cobalt blue, cerulean blue, synthetic ultramarine, emerald green, Guillet green, chrome yellow, vermilion and ecarlate red.^[53] Blue was a favourite color of the impressionist painters, who used it not just to depict nature but to create moods, feelings and atmospheres.Cobalt blue, a pigment of cobalt oxide-aluminium oxide, was a favourite ofAuguste Renoir andVincent van Gogh. It was similar tosmalt, a pigment used for centuries to make blue glass, but it was much improved by the French chemistLouis Jacques Thénard, who introduced it in 1802. It was very stable but extremely expensive. Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, "'Cobalt [blue] is a divine colour and there is nothing so beautiful for putting atmosphere around things ..."^[54]

Van Gogh described to his brother Theo how he composed a sky: "The dark blue sky is spotted with clouds of an even darker blue than the fundamental blue of intense cobalt, and others of a lighter blue, like the bluish white of the Milky Way ... the sea was very dark ultramarine, the shore a sort of violet and of light red as I see it, and on the dunes, a few bushes of prussian blue."^[55]

• 
  Claude Monet used several recently invented colours in hisGare Saint-Lazare (1877). He usedcobalt blue, invented in 1807,cerulean blue invented in 1860, and Frenchultramarine, first made in 1828.
• 
  The Umbrellas, by Pierre Auguste-Renoir. (1881 and 1885). Renoir used cobalt blue for right side of the picture, but used the new synthetic ultramarine introduced in the 1870s, when he added two figures to left of the picture a few years later.
• 
  In Vincent van Gogh'sIrises, the blue irises are placed against their complementary colour, yellow-orange.
• 
  Van Gogh'sStarry Night Over the Rhône (1888). Blue used to create a mood or atmosphere. A cobalt blue sky, and cobalt or ultramarine water.
• 
  Wheatfield Under Thunderclouds (July 1890), one of the last paintings byVincent van Gogh. He wrote of cobalt blue, "there is nothing so beautiful for putting atmosphere around things."

Blue had first become the high fashion color of the wealthy and powerful in Europe in the 13th century, when it was worn byLouis IX of France, better known as Saint Louis (1214–1270). Wearing blue implied dignity and wealth, and blue clothing was restricted to the nobility.^[28] Black replaced blue as the power colour in the 14th century, when European princes, and then merchants and bankers, wanted to show their seriousness, dignity and devoutness (seeBlack).

Blue gradually returned to court fashion in the 17th century, as part of a palette of peacock-bright colours shown off in extremely elaborate costumes. The modern blue business suit has its roots in England in the middle of the 17th century. Following the London plague of 1665 and theLondon fire of 1666, KingCharles II of England ordered that his courtiers wear simple coats, waistcoats and breeches, and the palette of colours became blue, grey, white and buff. Widely imitated, this style of men's fashion became almost a uniform of the London merchant class and the English country gentleman.^[56]

During the American Revolution, the leader of the Whig Party in England,Charles James Fox, wore a blue coat and buff waistcoat and breeches, the colours of the Whig Party and of the uniform ofGeorge Washington, whose principles he supported. The men's suit followed the basic form of the military uniforms of the time, particularly the uniforms of the cavalry.^[56]

In the early 19th century, during theRegency of the future KingGeorge IV, the blue suit was revolutionized by a courtier named GeorgeBeau Brummel. Brummel created a suit that closely fitted the human form. The new style had a long tail coat cut to fit the body and long tight trousers to replace the knee-length breeches and stockings of the previous century. He used plain colors, such as blue and grey, to concentrate attention on the form of the body, not the clothes. Brummel observed, "If people turn to look at you in the street, you are not well dressed."^[57] This fashion was adopted by the Prince Regent, then by London society and the upper classes. Originally the coat and trousers were different colors, but in the 19th century the suit of a single colour became fashionable. By the late 19th century the black suit had become the uniform of businessmen in England and America. In the 20th century, the black suit was largely replaced by the dark blue or grey suit.^[56]

• 
  KingLouis IX of France (on the right, with Pope Innocent) was the first European king to wear blue. It quickly became the colour of the nobles and wealthy.
• 
  Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Milltown, in the typical dress of the English country gentleman in the 1730s.
• 
  Charles James Fox, a leader of theWhig Party in England, wore a blue suit in Parliament in support of George Washington and the American Revolution. Portrait byJoshua Reynolds (1782).
• 
  Beau Brummel introduced the ancestor of the modern blue suit, shaped to the body. (1805).
• 
  Man's suit, 1826. Dark blue suits were still rare; this one is blue-green orteal.
• 
  Man's blue suit in the 1870s, Paris. Painting byCaillebotte.
• 
  PresidentJohn F. Kennedy popularized the blue two-button business suit, less formal than the suits of his predecessors. (1961)
• 
  In the 21st century, the dark blue business suit is among the most common style worn by world leaders

At the beginning of the 20th century, many artists recognized the emotional power of blue, and made it the central element of paintings. During hisBlue Period (1901–1904)Pablo Picasso used blue and green, with hardly any warm colours, to create a melancholy mood. In Russia, thesymbolist painterPavel Kuznetsov and theBlue Rose art group (1906–1908) used blue to create a fantastic and exotic atmosphere. In Germany,Wassily Kandinsky and other Russian émigrés formed the art group calledDer Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), and used blue to symbolize spirituality and eternity.^[58]Henri Matisse used intense blues to express the emotions he wanted viewers to feel. Matisse wrote, "A certain blue penetrates your soul."^[59]

In the art of the second half of the 20th century, painters of theabstract expressionist movement began to use blue and other colours in pure form, without any attempt to represent anything, to inspire ideas and emotions. PainterMark Rothko observed that colour was "only an instrument;" his interest was "in expressing human emotions tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on."^[60]

In fashion blue, particularly dark blue, was seen as a colour which was serious but not grim. In the mid-20th century, blue passed black as the most common colour of men's business suits, the costume usually worn by political and business leaders. Public opinion polls in the United States and Europe showed that blue was the favourite colour of over fifty per cent of respondents. Green was far behind with twenty per cent, while white and red received about eight per cent each.^[61]

In 1873, a German immigrant in San Francisco,Levi Strauss, invented a sturdy kind of work trousers, made ofdenim fabric and coloured withindigo dye, calledblue jeans. In 1935, they were raised to the level of high fashion byVogue magazine. Beginning in the 1950s, they became an essential part of uniform of young people in the United States, Europe, and around the world.

Blue was also seen as a colour which was authoritative without being threatening. Following theSecond World War, blue was adopted as the colour of important international organizations, including the United Nations, theCouncil of Europe,UNESCO, the European Union, andNATO. United Nations peacekeepers wear blue helmets to stress their peacekeeping role. Blue is used by theNATO Military Symbols for Land Based Systems to denote friendly forces, hence the term "blue on blue" forfriendly fire, andBlue Force Tracking for location of friendly units. ThePeople's Liberation Army of China (formerly known as the "Red Army") uses the term "Blue Army" to refer to hostile forces during exercises.^[62]

The 20th century saw the invention of new ways of creating blue, such aschemiluminescence, making blue light through a chemical reaction.

• 
  The Blue Rider (1903), byWassily Kandinsky, For Kandinsky, blue was the colour of spirituality: the darker the blue, the more it awakened human desire for the eternal.^[58]
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  The Russian avant-garde painterPavel Kuznetsov and his group, theBlue Rose, used blue to symbolize fantasy and exoticism.This is In the Steppe – Mirage (1911).
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  Blue jeans, made ofdenim coloured withindigo dye, patented byLevi Strauss in 1873, became an essential part of the wardrobe of young people beginning in the 1950s.
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  Blueneon lighting, first used in commercial advertising, is now used in works of art. This isZwei Pferde für Münster (Two horses for Münster), a neon sculpture byStephan Huber (2002), in Munster, Germany.
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  TheStory Bridge inBrisbane,Australia illuminated in blue light forovarian cancer awareness.

By the 13th century blue had become a popular colour; its use by nobility meant it became a rival of red.^[63] The two colours were the most popular in the known and used spectrum of colours even as new colours and shades came around.^[63] For the next five centuries the two colours competed with each other and in many areas contrasted each other.^[63] In the 18th century blue started finding more use as red began to be used less in daily wear. In symbolism, in revolutions and movements, in schema and in chromatic classifications.^[64] As blue became more popular, attaining blue pigment diversified and shades of blue competed with each other.^[64] In 21st century surveys from a number of countries, blue is the most popular or favourite colour.^{[65][66][67][68]}

Various shades of blue are used as thenational colours for many nations. Blue is one of the national colours in the following countries:Argentina,Australia,Azerbaijan,Barbados,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Botswana,Brazil,Cambodia,Chad,Chile,Colombia,Costa Rica,Croatia,Cuba, theCzech Republic, theDominican Republic,Ecuador,El Salvador,Estonia,^[69]Finland,France,Gabon,Greece,Guatemala,Haiti,Honduras,Iceland,Israel,Kazakhstan,Kosovo,Laos,Liberia,Liechtenstein,Luxembourg,Micronesia,Moldova,Mongolia,Namibia,Nepal, theNetherlands,New Zealand,Nicaragua,North Korea,^[70]Norway,Palau,Panama,Paraguay,Romania,Russia,Rwanda,Samoa,Scotland,Serbia,Sierra Leone,Slovakia,Slovenia,Somalia,Sweden,Thailand,Ukraine, theUnited Kingdom, theUnited States,Uruguay,Uzbekistan, andVenezuela.

St. Patrick's blue is a traditional colour of Ireland and appears on theArms of Ireland.Azure, a light blue, is the national colour ofItaly.

• In theByzantine Empire, theBlues and theGreens were the most prominent political factions in the capital. They took their names from the colours of the two most popularchariot racing teams at theHippodrome of Constantinople.^[71]
• The wordblue was used in England the 17th century as a disparaging reference to rigid moral codes and those who observed them,^[72] particularly inblue-stocking, a reference to Oliver Cromwell's supporters in the parliament of 1653.
• In the middle of the 18th century, blue was the colour ofTory party, then the opposition party in England, Scotland and Ireland, which supported the British monarch and power of the landed aristocracy, while the rulingWhigs had orange as their colour.^{[citation needed]} Flags of the two colours are seen over a polling station in the series of prints byWilliam Hogarth calledHumours of an election, made in 1754–55.^{[citation needed]} Blue remains the colour of theConservative Party of the UK today.^[73]
• By the time of the American Revolution, The Tories were in power and blue and buff had become the colours of the oppositionWhigs. They were the subject of a famous toast to Whig politicians by Mrs. Crewe in 1784; "Buff and blue and all of you." They also became the colours of the American patriots in theAmerican Revolution, who had strong Whig sympathies, and of the uniforms ofContinental Army led byGeorge Washington.^[74]
• During theFrench Revolution and therevolt in the Vendée that followed, blue was the colour worn by the soldiers of the Revolutionary government, while the royalists wore white.
• Blue Shirts, when used by itself, can refer to several organizations, mostly fascist organizations found in the 1920s and 1930
• TheBreton blues were members of a liberal, anti-clerical political movement inBrittany in the late 19th century.
• Theblueshirts were members of an extreme right paramilitary organization active in Ireland during the 1930s.
• Blue is associated with numerouscentre-rightliberal political parties in Europe, including thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Netherlands), theReformist Movement andOpen VLD (Belgium), theDemocratic Party (Luxembourg),Liberal Party (Denmark) andLiberal People's Party (Sweden).
• Blue is the colour of theConservative Party in Britain, theConservative Party of Canada, theConservative Party in Norway, the conservativeNational Coalition Party in Finland, and the conservativeModerate Party in Sweden.
• In the United States, television commentators use the term "blue states" for those states which traditionally vote for theDemocratic Party in presidential elections, and "red states" for those which vote for theRepublican Party.^[75]
• In the Canadian province ofQuebec, the Blues are those who support sovereignty for Quebec, as opposed to the federalists. It is the colour of theParti québécois and theQuebec Liberal Party.
• Blue is the colour of theNew Progressive Party of Puerto Rico.
• In Brazil, blue states are the ones in which theSocial Democratic Party has the majority, in opposition to theWorkers' Party, usually represented by red.
• Ablue law was a type of law, typically found in the United States and Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction onSunday shopping.
• TheBlue House is the residence of thePresident of South Korea.^[76]

• 
  A painting byWilliam Hogarth from 1854 shows a polling station with the blue flag of the Tory party and the orange flag of the Whigs.
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  The blue necktie of former British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron represented his Conservative Party.
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  A map of the US showing theblue states, which voted for the Democratic candidate in all the last four presidential elections, and thered states, which voted for the Republican.(last updated 2016)

• Blue in Judaism: In theTorah,^[77] theIsraelites were commanded to put fringes,tzitzit, on the corners of their garments, and to weave within these fringes a "twisted thread of blue (tekhelet)".^[78] In ancient days, this blue thread was made from a dye extracted from a Mediterranean snail called thehilazon.Maimonides claimed that this blue was the colour of "the clear noonday sky";Rashi, the colour of the evening sky.^[79] According to several rabbinic sages, blue is the colour of God's Glory.^[80] Staring at this colour aids in mediation, bringing us a glimpse of the "pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity", which is a likeness of the Throne of God.^[81] (TheHebrew word for glory.) Many items in theMishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness, such as themenorah, many of the vessels, and theArk of the Covenant, were covered with blue cloth when transported from place to place.^[82]
• Blue inChristianity: Blue is associated with Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, especially with the figure of theVirgin Mary.^[83][84][85] It also represents the sin oflust.
• Blue inHinduism: Many of the gods are depicted as having blue-coloured skin, particularly those associated withVishnu, who is said to be the preserver of the world and thus intimately connected to water.Krishna andRam, Vishnu's avatars, are usually blue.Shiva, the destroyer, is also depicted in light blue tones and is calledneela kantha, or blue-throated, for having swallowed poison in an attempt to turn the tide of a battle between the gods and demons in the gods' favour. Blue is used to symbolically represent the fifth, throat,chakra (Vishuddha).^[86]
• Blue inBuddhism: In South Asian tradition, several Buddhist figures may be depicted with blue skin, in reference to their dark complexion. InSri Lanka, the Buddha's discipleMaudgalyāyana is depicted in this way. The nunUtpalavarṇā is similarly implied to have been of a comparatively dark complexion as her name means "colour of a blue water lily." The godŚakra is also sometimes depicted as blue, green, or black. InTibetan Buddhism, the BuddhaBhaiṣajyaguru is usually painted blue in reference to his relationship tolapis lazuli. Another name for the goddessEkajaṭī is "Blue Tara." Among the colours of theBuddhist flag, blue represents "the spirit of Universal Compassion." It is listed among thekasiṇa.^{[citation needed]}
• Blue inSikhism: TheAkali Nihangs are famous for wearing all-blue attire in Sikh culture.Guru Gobind Singh is also known to have had ablue roanhorse. The Sikh Rehat Maryada clearly states that theNishan Sahib hoisted outside everyGurudwara should bexanthic (Basanti inPunjabi) or greyish blue (modern dayNavy blue) (Surmaaee inPunjabi) colour.^[87][88]
• Blue inPaganism: Blue is associated with peace, truth, wisdom, protection, and patience. It helps with healing, psychic ability, harmony, and understanding.^[89]

• 
  Blue stripes on a traditionalJewishtallit. The blue stripes are also featured in theflag of Israel.
• 
  Vishnu, the supreme god ofHinduism, is often portrayed as being blue, or more precisely having skin the colour of rain-filled clouds.
• 
  InCatholicism, blue became the traditional colour of the robes of theVirgin Mary in the 13th century.
• 
  TheBhaisajyaguru, or "Medicine Master of Lapis Lazuli Light", is the Buddha of healing and medicine inMahayana Buddhism. He traditionally holds a lapis lazuli jar of medicine.
• 
  In theIslamic World, blue and turquoisetile traditionally decorates the facades and exteriors of mosques and other religious buildings. This mosque is inIsfahan, Iran.
• 
  SikhNishan Sahib in blue, atAkali Phoola Singh di Burj inAmritsar

Blue is commonly used in the Western Hemisphere to symbolize boys, in contrast topink used for girls. In the early 1900s, blue was the colour for girls, since it had traditionally been the colour of theVirgin Mary inWestern Art, while pink was for boys (as it was akin to the colourred, considered a masculine colour).^[90] Blue was first used as agender signifier just prior toWorld War I (for either girls or boys), and first established as a male gender signifier in the 1940s. Sales was a particular motivation for the gendering of clothing, as well as the invention of prenatal sexing.^[91]

Theblues is a popular musical form created in the United States in the 19th century byAfrican-American musicians, based on African musical roots.^[92] It usually expresses sadness and melancholy. Ablue note is a musical note sung or played at a slightly lowerpitch than themajor scale for expressive purposes, giving it a slightly melancholy sound. It is frequently used injazz and the blues.^[93]Bluegrass is a subgenre of Americancountry music, born inKentucky and the mountains ofAppalachia. It has its roots in the traditional folk music of theScottish, andIrish.^[94]

Blue can sometimes represent happiness and optimism in popular songs,^[95] usually referring to blue skies.^[96]

In many countries, blue is often used as a color forguide signs on highways.^[97] In theManual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices used in the United States, as well as in other countries with MUTCD-inspired signage, blue is often used to indicate motorist services. Many bus and rail systems around the world that colour code rail lines typically include aBlue Line. The colour blue has also been used extensively by several airlines.^[98]

• 

  True blue is an expression in the United States which means faithful and loyal.^[99]
• In Britain, a bride in a wedding is encouraged to wear "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue," as a sign of loyalty and faithfulness. A blue sapphire engagement ring is also considered a symbol of fidelity.^[100]
• Blue is often associated with excellence, distinction and high performance. The Queen of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of Germany often wear a blue sash at formal occasions. In the United States, theblue ribbon is usually the highest award in expositions and county fairs. TheBlue Riband was a trophy and flag given to the fastest transatlantic steamships in the 19th and 20th century. Ablue-ribbon panel is a group of top-level experts selected to examine a subject.
• Ablue chip stock is a stock in a company with a reputation for quality and reliability in good times and bad. The term was invented in theNew York Stock Exchange in 1923 or 1924, and comes frompoker, where the highest value chips are blue.^[101]
• Someone with blue blood is a member of thenobility. The term comes from the Spanishsangre azul, and is said to refer to the pale skin and prominent blue veins of Spanish nobles.^[102]
• Blue is also associated with labour and the working class. It is the common colour of overallsblue jeans and other working costumes. In the United States "blue collar" workers refers to those who, in either skilled or unskilled jobs, work with their hands and do not wear business suits ("white collar" workers).
• Blue is traditionally associated with the sea and the sky, with infinity and distance. The uniforms of sailors are usually dark blue, those of air forces lighter blue. The expression "The wild blue yonder" in theofficial song of the US Air Force refers to the sky.^[103]
• Blue is associated with cold water taps which are traditionally marked with blue.
• Bluestocking was an unflattering expression in the 18th century for upper-class women who cared about culture and intellectual life and disregarded fashion. It originally referred to men and women who wore plain blue wool stockings instead of the black silk stockings worn in society.^[102]
• Blue is often associated withmelancholy – having the "blues".
• In English-speaking countries, the colour blue is sometimes associated with therisqué, for example "blue comedy", "blue movie" (a euphemism for apornographic film) or "turning the air blue" (an idiom referring to profuse swearing).
• TheFree area of the Republic of China is often called"the Blue China"
• In the English language, blue often represents the human emotion ofsadness, for example, "He was feeling blue".
• In German, to be "blue" (blau sein) is to be drunk. This derives from the ancient use of urine, particularly the urine of men who had been drinking alcohol in dyeing cloth blue with woad or indigo.^[104] It may also be in relation to rain, which is usually regarded as a trigger of depressive emotions.^[105]
• In the German, Swedish and Norwegian languages, a naive person is said to look upon the world with a blue eye.^[106][107]
• In China, the colour blue is commonly associated with torment, ghosts, and death.^[108] In a traditionalChinese opera, a character with a face powdered blue is a villain.^[109]
• In Turkey and Central Asia, blue is the colour of mourning.^[108]
• In the culture of theHopi people of the American southwest, blue symbolized the west, which was seen as the house of death. A dream about a person carrying a blue feather was considered a very bad omen.^[108]
• In Thailand, blue is associated with Friday on theThai solar calendar. Anyone may wear blue on Fridays and anyone born on a Friday may adopt blue as their colour.
• The men of theTuareg people in North Africa wear a blue turban called atagelmust, which protects them from the sun and wind-blown sand of theSahara desert. It is coloured with indigo. Instead of using dye, which uses precious water, the tagelmust is coloured by pounding it with powdered indigo. The blue colour transfers to the skin, where it is seen as a sign of nobility and affluence.^[110] Early visitors called them the "Blue Men" of the Sahara.^[111]

Many sporting teams make blue their official colour, or use it as detail on kit of a different colour. In addition, the colour is present on the logos of many sports associations. Along withred, blue is the most commonly used non-white colours for teams.

In theLate Roman Empire, during the time ofCaligula,Nero and the emperors who followed, the Blues were a popular chariot racing team which competed in theCircus Maximus in Rome against the Greens, the Reds and Whites.^[71] In theByzantine Empire, The Blues and Greens were the two most popular chariot racing teams which competed in theHippodrome of Constantinople. Each was connected with a powerful political faction, and disputes between the Green and Blue supporters often became violent. During the reign of the emperorJustinian I, after one competition in AD 532,riots between the two factions broke out, during which the cathedral and much of the centre of Constantinople were burned, and more than thirty thousand people were killed.^[112]

In internationalassociation football, blue is a common colour on kits, as a majority of nations wear the colours of their national flag. A notable exception to this link is four-timeFIFA World Cup winnersItaly, who wear a blue kit based on theAzzuro Savoia (Savoy blue) of the royalHouse of Savoy which unified the Italian states, despite the Italian national flag being green, white and red.^[113] The team themselves are known asGli Azzurri (the Azures). Another World Cup winning nation with a blue shirt isFrance, who are known asLes Bleus (the Blues). Two neighbouring countries with two World Cup victories each,Argentina andUruguay wear a light blue shirt, the former with white stripes. Uruguay are known as theLa Celeste,Spanish for 'thesky blue one', while Argentina are known asLos Albicelestes, Spanish for 'the sky blue and whites'.^[114]

Blue features on the logo of football's governing bodyFIFA, as well as featuring highly in the design of their website.^[115] The European governing body of football,UEFA, uses two tones of blue to create a map of Europe in the centre of their logo. TheAsian Football Confederation,Oceania Football Confederation andCONCACAF (the governing body of football in North and Central America and the Caribbean) use blue text on their logos.

InMajor League Baseball, the premier baseball league in the United States and Canada, blue is one of the three colours, along with white and red, on the league's official logo. A team fromToronto,Ontario are nicknamed theBlue Jays. Sixteen other teams either regularly feature blue hats or use the colour in their uniforms.

TheNational Basketball Association, the premierbasketball league in the United States and Canada, also has blue as one of the colours on their logo, along with red and white also, as did its female equivalent, theWNBA, until 28 March 2011, when the latter adopted an orange and white logo. Former NBA playerTheodore Edwards was nicknamed "Blue". Fifteen NBA teams feature the colour in their uniforms.

TheNational Football League, the premierAmerican football league in the United States, also uses blue as one of three colours, along with white and red, on their official logo. Thirteen NFL teams prominently feature the colour.

TheNational Hockey League, the premierIce hockey league in Canada and the United States, uses blue on its official logo. Ten teams prominently feature the colour, with two teams (Columbus Blue Jackets andSt. Louis Blues) featuring the colour in their nicknames. The team in St. Louis is primarily nicknamed after the eponymousmusic genre.

TheIndian national cricket team wears blue uniform duringOne day international matches, as such the team is also referred to as "Men in Blue".^[116]

• Shades of blue
• Color in culture

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