How lovely yellow is – it stands for the sun!
Vincent Van Gogh
We put our foot into autumn, and of course everything is splashed in yellow. Did you ever wonder about the effect this color has on us?
Let us first see how it was made. Till the end of 18th century, it was made of cow’s pee! Ewwww… Yeah, they made cows eating mango leaves and it’s how they got this nice warm yellow pigment. This technique was abandoned not only because it was gross, but it was also dangerous for cows to have this poor diet.
The pigment we use today was founded in the late 18th century, and is less exotic but equally shocking to know – because the core of it is not even close to yellow. It is a mix of lead and sea salt! It’s very toxic so please, do not lick the tube of paint! Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of visible light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 570–590 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing.
The meaning of yellow is very different – from nation to nation, and also in nature. Since it is a very very bright and vivid color, both plants and animals are using it as a warning sign for predators, to alarm their toxicity. In psychology, yellow is mostly the symbol of warmth, happiness, optimism… but there is a dark side of it, as it was most commonly chosen by mentally ill people.
Now when we know how it was made, let’s see how it was used throughout the history. Because it was widely available, yellow ochre pigment was one of the first colors used in art; the Lascaux cave in France has a painting of a yellow horse 17,000 years old. Ochre and orpiment pigments were used to represent gold and skin color in Egyptian tombs, then in the murals in Roman villas. In the early Christian church, yellow was the color associated with the Pope and the golden keys of the Kingdom, but was also associated with Judas Iscariot and was used to mark heretics. In the 20th century, Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe were forced to wear a yellow star. In China, yellow was the color of the Middle Kingdom, and could be worn only by the Emperor and his household; special guests were welcomed on a yellow carpet. And in Mexico is the color of mourning.
Vincent Van Gogh is one of the artists that is mainly associated with yellow. Remember his sunflowers?
In later years, it was commonly used in colored comic books, and because of its high visibility (due the fact Kandinsky described yellow as the color radiating from inside to outside) it is used as a warning sign, protecting vests and helmets and many many more.
I love to use this color, how it stands out, how it warms you instantly, how it defines you. What can make your rainy morning better than the look of a bright yellow poncho?
Take a look on some of my yellow pieces.
