Bluepigments are natural or synthetic materials, traditionally made from minerals, Being water-insoluble by definition, blue pigments used to make the blue colors in inks and paints. Some major blue pigments areindigo,Prussian blue, andcopper phthalocyanine. Historicallylapis lazuli was important.
Although sometimes considered adye, indigo is a pigment (insoluble in water). Unlike many traditional mineral-based blues, indigo is anorganic compound. It was once obtained by laborious extraction from various plants. Subsequent to the discovery ofsynthetic dyes, such asmauvine, a chemical route was discovered to this material. In 2022, about 20,000 tonnes were produced, making indigo the dominant blue pigment in terms of volume. It is mainly used for the production of blue jeans.[1] It is also used as a food colorant, and is listed in the United States asFD&C Blue No. 2.
Maya blue is a syntheticturquoise-blue pigment made by infusingindigo pigments (particularly those derived from theanil shrub) intopalygorskite, a clay that binds and stabilises the indigo such that it becomes resistant to weathering.[2] Developed inMesoamerica in the first millennium AD, it saw wide use in the region, most prominently in theart of theMaya civilisation. It is known on media from pottery to murals tocodices, and also played an important role in ritual sacrifices of both objects and people: silt at the bottom of theSacred Cenote atChichén Itzá is heavily stained with Maya blue, washed off the hundreds of sacrificial offerings cast into the cenote during the city's occupation.[3] Maya blue continued to be used into the Spanish colonial period; though falling out of widespread use in the Maya region during the 16th century, some areas apparently continued to produce it for export, asCuban colonial paintings of the 18th and 19th century have been found to make use of Maya blue probably imported fromCampeche.[4]
Copper phthalocyanine ("phthalo blue") is a synthetic bluepigment frequently used inpaints, inks, anddyes. It is highly valued for its superior properties such as light fastness, tinting strength, covering power and resistance to the effects ofalkalis andacids. It has the appearance of a blue powder, insoluble in most solvents including water.[5]
Prussian blue (PB) is a dark bluepigment containing iron and cyanide produced by the oxidation of ferrousferrocyanide salts. In crude but reproducible form, it was invented in Berlin between 1704 and 1710. It had an immediate impact on the pigment market, because its intense deep blue color approached the quality of ultramarine at a much lower price and superior longevity. Subsequent work led to a rational route to well defined PB.
PB was widely adapted by major European artists, notablyThomas Gainsborough andCanaletto, who used it to paint the Venetian sky.[6] It was also used by Japanese artists, includingHokusai, for the deeper blues of waves.
Ultramarine was historically a prestigious and expensive of blue pigments. It was produced fromlapis lazuli, a mineral whose major source was the mines ofSar-e-Sang in what is now northeastern Afghanistan.[7] It is now produced industrially by heating aluminosilicates with sulfur. It is widely used in coloring plastics. paints, laundry applications, cosmetics, and toys.[8]
It was the most expensive blue used by Renaissance artists. It was often reserved for special purposes, such as painting the robes of theVirgin Mary.[9]Johannes Vermeer used ultramarine only for the most important surfaces where he wanted to attract attention.Pietro Perugino, in his depiction of the Madonna and Child on the Certosa de Pavio Altarpiece, painted only the top level of the Virgin's robes in ultramarine, withazurite beneath.[10]
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Ultramarine became more widely used after itssynthesis in the 19th century, which lowered its price substantially.[11] Synthetic ultramarine was widely appreciated by the French impressionists, andVincent van Gogh used both French ultramarine and cobalt blue for his paintingThe Starry Night (1889).[12]
Egyptian blue was the first synthetic blue pigment. It was made from a mixture ofsilica,lime,copper salts, and analkali. It was widely used in TheFourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (c. 2613 to 2494 BC).[13] Egyptian blue is responsible for the blue colour seen very commonly inEgyptian faience.
Han blue (also called Chinese blue) is a synthetic barium copper silicate pigment used in ancient and imperial China from theWestern Zhou period (1045–771 BC) until the end of theHan dynasty (circa 220 AD). Han blue and the chemically relatedHan purple were used to decoratehu vessels during the Han dynasty, and were also used for mural paintings in tombs of the same period.[14]
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Azurite pigment is derived from the soft, deep-blue copper mineral of the same name, which forms from the weathering of copper ore deposits. It was mentioned inPliny the Elder's Natural History under the Greek name kuanos (κυανός: "deep blue," root of Englishcyan) and the Latin namecaeruleum. The modern English name of the mineral reflects this association, since bothazurite andazure are derived via Arabic from the Persianlazhward (لاژورد), an area known for its deposits of another deep-blue stone,lapis. Azurite was often used in the Renaissance and later as a less expensive substitute forultramarine. Lower layers would be painted in azurite, with the most visible portions painted in ultramarine. The drawback of the pigment is that it degrades and darkens over time.[15]
Cerulean blue was created in 1789 by the Swiss chemistAlbrecht Höpfner.[16] Subsequently, there was a limited German production under the name ofCölinblau. The primary chemical constituent of the pigment iscobalt(II)stannate (Co
2SnO
4).[17]
Cobalt blue is a synthetic blue pigment was invented in 1803 as a rival to ultramarine. It was made by the process ofsintering, that is by compacting and forming a solid mass of material by heat or pressure without melting it to the point of liquefaction. It combined cobalt(II) oxide with aluminum(III) oxide (alumina) at 1200 °C. It was also used as colorant, particularly in blue glass and as the blue pigment used for centuries in Chineseblue and white porcelain, beginning in the late eighth or early ninth century.[18]
Cobalt glass, orSmalt, is a variation of cobalt blue. It is made of ground blue potassium glass containing cobalt blue. It was widely used in painting in the 16th and the 17th centuries. Smalt was popular because of its low cost; it was widely used by Dutch and Flemish painters, includingHans Holbein the Younger.[19]
YInMn Blue is aninorganic pigment with an intense blue color that was discovered byMas Subramanian and his graduate student, Andrew Smith, atOregon State University in 2009.[20][21] It has been used in water, oil, and acrylic paints from paint vendors.
The name "YInMn" comes from thechemical symbols foryttrium,indium andmanganese. The intense blue color can be varied by adjusting the indium : manganese ratio. A range of novel green, purple, and orange pigments have been produced.[22][23][24]