A Short History of the Colour Red In Art

For millennia, red has captured the attention of painters as the colour of danger, scarlet passions, power, and prestige. From the Paleolithic era to the present day, artists have used this emblematic colour to access the extremes of human experience. Blood, lust, and anger, beginnings and terrible ends are all represented by the colour red. It is the first true colour people notice after black and white, and it is the colour of love and shame.

In today’s blog post, we’re going to explore a short history of the colour red in art, how it has been used, and its evolution through the years.

Red Orche

Red ochre is a naturally occurring clay pigment that gets its scarlet hue from the mineral hematite. The Neanderthals used the colour to paint their bodies as early as 250,000 years ago. The pigment was utilised symbolically in ritual burial situations during the Neolithic era, suggesting a return to the soil or possibly rebirth. The red ochre pigment was first used in art during the Upper Paleolithic period, as evidenced by the red bison cave paintings of Altamira, Spain, which date between 16,500 and 15,000 BC.

Victorious Vermillion

Red was particularly popular among the ancient Romans, who defined 15 various tones of the colour. The vivid scarlet of vermillion was a particular favourite for use in frescoes that decorated the walls of their villas. Obtaining the colour, however, was a death sentence for those who extracted it from the Almaden mines in Spain. Natural vermillion is a highly toxic mercuric sulphide generated from the mineral cinnabar. Because of the pigment’s purity and the difficulty of obtaining it, it became extremely expensive, costing 10 times as much as red ochre. It was previously used to smear the faces of triumphant gladiators, and it may still be seen in the paintings that survive today. It was used to smear the faces of triumphant gladiators, and it may still be seen in the paintings that adorn what were once Pompeii’s upper-class residences.

Synthetic Shades of Scarlet

Synthetic substitutes first appeared in the 12th century, and by the 15th century, a new red had established itself. Carmine, with its rich crimson tones, may be found on Rembrandt’s, Vermeer’s, Rubens’, and Velazquez’s palettes. When cochineal bugs were dried and crushed, they gave off a bright crimson tint. Other famous synthetic pigments, such as minium (‘red lead’), were popular with Mughal painters from India and Persia in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose paintings were dubbed ‘miniatures’ due to the widespread use of minium.

Holy Red

In the Catholic Church, red has played a particularly significant role. It was accepted by cardinals in 1244 as a symbol of Christ’s blood in Christian iconography. They wear red caps and robes to show that they are willing to shed blood for the Church. The Madonna, which was traditionally painted in blue by Italian painters, was painted in red by Flemish masters, who used the colour only for sacred figures due to the scarcity of cochineal dye in fabrics. The stunning red drapery in Jan van Eyck’s Lucca Madonna symbolises Christ’s passion and martyrdom once more.

Red Flags

Due to its connections with immorality, sin, and the excesses of the Catholic Church, red’s popularity began to wane with the Protestant Reformation. It resurfaced in popularity during the French Revolution, when the colour became associated with liberty and freedom. From China to Cuba, political governments and revolutionaries adopted red throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Red was particularly prominent in Constructivist works, an avant-garde movement that arose in tandem with the Bolshevik Revolution. Red is still used as a synonym for the words “socialist,” “communist,” “extremist,” and “revolutionary” in political art today.

Information Citations

En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.

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