Three colours: Blue

Philip Ball | Homunculus | 17th April 2020

Philip Ball, Homunculus: April 17, 2020

Colours have interesting histories and blue a more exotic back story than most. The Egyptians came up with Egyptian blue. Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan yielded ultramarine for artists with deep pockets. Starting in the 18^th century, systematic chemistry developed a wide array of affordable hues. In 1959 Yves Klein famously produced a blue so vivid that ‘it spoke for itself …“blue is the invisible becoming visible”.