Moonshine

by Viktor Lazarev

Original - Sold

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

20.000 x 16.000 x 0.500 inches

Title

Moonshine

Artist

Viktor Lazarev

Medium

Painting - Canvas,acrilic

Description

"MOONSHINE"-original painting by Viktor Lazarev.
{{sprotect|small=yes}}
{{Infobox colour
| title=Blue
| image=File:Color icon blue.svg
| wavelength=450�495
| frequency=~670�610|
| symbolism=[[Ice]], [[water]], [[sky]], [[sadness]], [[winter]], [[police]], [[Royal family|royalty]], [[Hanukkah]], [[boy]]s, [[cold]], calm, [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]], [[Truth|trueness]], [[Conservatism|conservatism (universally)]] and [[capitalism]], [[Political colour#United States|liberalism (US)]]
| hex=0000FF | textcolor=white
| spelling=colour
| r=0|g=0|b=255|rgbspace=[[sRGB color space|sRGB]]
| h=240|s=100|v=100
| source=[[HTML color names|HTML/CSS]][http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-color/#html4 W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords]
}}

'''Blue''' is the [[colour]] of the clear sky and the deep sea.See ''Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language'', College Edition, 1962. See also ''Le Petit LaRousse'', 1997: "De la couleur du ciel sans nuages, de l'azur". On the [[optical spectrum]], blue is located between [[Violet (color)|violet]] and [[green]].Merriam-Webster.com online dictionary, "blue".

==Shades and variations of blue==
[[File:Linear visible spectrum.svg|center|400px|Blue is between violet and green in the spectrum of visible light]]
Blue is the colour of light between violet and green on the [[visible spectrum]]. Hues of blue include indigo and [[ultramarine]], closer to violet; pure blue, without any mixture of other colours; [[Cyan]], which is midway on the spectrum between blue and green, and the other blue-greens [[Turquoise (color)|turquoise]], [[teal]], and [[aquamarine (color)|aquamarine]].

Blues also vary in shade or tint; darker shades of blue contain black or grey, while lighter tints contain white. Darker shades of blue include [[ultramarine]], [[cobalt blue]], [[navy blue]], and [[Prussian blue]]; while lighter tints include [[sky blue]], [[azure (color)|azure]], and [[Egyptian blue]]. include (For a more complete list see the [[List of colors|List of colours]]).

Blue pigments were originally made from minerals such as [[lapis lazuli]], [[cobalt]] and [[azurite]], and blue dyes were made from plants; usually [[woad]] in Europe, and [[Indigofera tinctoria]], or True indigo, in Asia and Africa. Today most blue pigments and dyes are made by a chemical process.

File:Toulon Harbour.JPG|Blue is the colour of the deep sea and the clear sky. The harbour of [[Toulon]], France, on the [[Mediterranean]] Sea.
File:Solid blue.svg|Pure blue, also known as high blue, is not mixed with any other colours.
File:000080 Navy Blue Square.svg|[[Navy blue]], also known as low blue, is the darkest shade of pure blue.
File:Gabbiano cielo.jpg|[[Sky blue]] or pale [[azure (color)|azure]], mid-way on the RBG colour wheel between blue and cyan.
File:Indigo plant extract sample.jpg|Extract of natural [[Indigo]], the most popular blue dye before the invention of synthetic dyes. It was the colour of the first [[jeans|blue jeans]].
File:Lapis lazuli block.jpg|A block of [[Lapis Lazuli]], originally used to make ultramarine.
File:Ultramarineblue.jpg|[[Ultramarine]], the most expensive blue during the Renaissance, is a slightly violet-blue.
File:Cobalt blue.jpg|[[Cobalt]] has been used since 2000 BC to colour [[cobalt glass]], [[Chinese porcelain]], and the [[stained glass]] windows of medieval cathedrals.
File:Cobaltblue.jpg|The synthetic pigment [[cobalt blue]] was invented in 1802, and was popular with [[Vincent Van Gogh]] and other impressionist painters.
File:Cyan-square.gif|[[Cyan]] is made by mixing equal amounts of blue and green light, or removing red from white light.
File:Common Teal (Anas crecca) near Hodal, Haryana W IMG 6512.jpg|The colour [[teal]] takes its name from the colour around the eyes of the [[common teal]] duck.
File:Tripodic goblet Louvre AO4079.jpg|[[Egyptian blue]] goblet from Mesopotamia, 1500-1300 BC. This was the first synthetic blue, first made in about 2500 BC.
File:Prussian blue.jpg|[[Prussian blue]], invented in 1707, was the first modern synthetic blue.
File:Ceruleanblue.jpg|[[Cerulean blue]] pigment was invented in 1805 and first marketed in 1860. It was frequently used for painting skies.


==Etymology and linguistic differences==
The [[modern English]] word ''blue'' comes from [[Middle English]] ''bleu'' or ''blewe'', from the [[Old French]] ''bleu'', a word of [[Germanic language|Germanic]] origin, related to the [[Old High German]] word ''blao''.''Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary'', (1970).

In Russian and some other languages, there is no single word for blue, but rather different words for light blue (�s���|���q���z, goluboy) and dark blue (���y�~�y�z, siniy).

Several languages, including [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Korean Language|Korean]], and [[Lakota Sioux]], use the same word to describe blue and green. For example, in Vietnamese the colour of both tree leaves and the sky is ''xanh''. In Japanese, the word for blue (��ao) is often used for colours that English speakers would refer to as green, such as the colour of a traffic signal meaning "go". (For more on this subject, see [[Distinguishing blue from green in language]])

==History of blue==

===Blue in the ancient world===
Blue was a latecomer among colours used in art and decoration. Reds, blacks, browns, and ochres are found in [[cave paintings]] from the Upper [[Paleolithic]] 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.See Michel Pastoureau, ''Blue- Histoire d'une couleur'', pg. 13-17. 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 either [[lapis lazuli]] or [[azurite]].

Lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone, has been mined in Afghanistan for more than three thousand years, and was exported to all parts of the ancient world.{{cite book|last=Moorey|first=Peter Roger|title=Ancient mesopotamian materials and industries: the archaeological evidence|year=1999|publisher=Eisenbrauns|isbn=978-1-57506-042-2|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=P_Ixuott4doC&pg=PA86&dq=Lapis+lazuli+++mines+in+the+Badakhshan&hl=en&ei=sW6_TvWKBIKr8AOTn623BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Lapis%20lazuli%20%20%20mines%20in%20the%20Badakhshan&f=false|pages=86�87}} In Iran and Mesopotamia, it was used to make jewellery and vessels. In Egypt, it was used for the eyebrows on the funeral mask of [[King Tutankhamun]] (1341-1323 BC).Alessandro Bongioanni & Maria Croce (ed.), The Treasures of Ancient Egypt: From the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Universe Publishing, a division of Ruzzoli Publications Inc., 2003. p.310

The cost of importing lapis lazuli by caravan across the desert from Afghanistan to Egypt was extremely high. Beginning in about 2500 BC, the ancient Egyptians began to produce their own blue pigment known as [[Egyptian blue]], made by grinding [[silica]], [[Lime (material)|lime]], [[copper]] and [[alkalai]], and heating it to 800 or 900 degrees C. This is considered the first synthetic pigment.Chase, W.T. 1971, Egyptian blue as a pigment and ceramic material. In: R. Brill (ed.) ''Science and Archaeology''. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-02061-0 Egyptian blue was used to paint wood, papyrus and canvas, and was used to colour a glaze to make [[faience]] beads, inlays, and pots. It was particularly used in funeral statuary and figurines and in tomb paintings. Blue was a considered a beneficial colour which would protect the dead against evil in the afterlife. Blue dye was also used to colour the cloth in which mummies were wrapped.J. Baines, "Color Terminology and Color Classification in Ancient Egyptian Color Terminology and Polychromy", in ''The American Anthropologist'', volume LXXXVII, 1985, pg. 282-297).

In Egypt, blue was associated with the sky and with divinity. The Egyptian god [[Amun]] 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 blue amulet, representing the eye of God, to protect them from misfortune.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur - effets et symboliques'', (pg. 17)

Blue glass was manufactured in [[Mesopotamia]] 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.Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Colour'', pg. 88-89

The [[Ishtar Gate]] of ancient [[Babylon]] (604-562 BC) was decorated with deep blue glazed bricks used as a background for pictures of lions, dragons and [[aurochs]].*{{Citation | first = F.R. | last = Matson | title = Compositional Studies of the Glazed Brick from the Ishtar Gate at Babylon | publisher = Museum of Fine Arts. The Research Laboratory | year = 1985 | isbn = 0-87846-255-4 }}

The ancient Greeks classified colours 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.Michel Pastourou, Bleu- ''Histoire d'une couleur'', pg. 24

The Greeks imported indigo dye from India, calling it indikon. They used Egyptian blue in the wall paintings of [[Knossos]], in Crete, (2100 BC). It was not one of the four primary colours for Greek painting described by [[Pliny the Elder]] (red, yellow, black and white), but nonetheless it was used as a background colour behind the friezes on Greek temples and to colour the beards of Greek statues.Philip Ball, Bright Earth � Art and the Invention of Colour, pg. 106

The Romans also imported indigo dye, but blue was the colour of working class clothing; the nobles and rich wore white, black, red or violet. Blue was considered the colour of mourning. It was also considered the colour of barbarians; Julius Caesar reported that the Celts and Germans dyed their faces blue to frighten their enemies, and tinted their hair blue when they grew old.Caesar, The Gallic Wars, V., 14, 2. Cited by Miche Pastourou, pg. 178.

Nonetheless, the Romans made extensive use of blue for decoration. According to [[Vitruvius]], they made dark blue pigment from indigo, and imported Egyptian blue pigment. The walls of Roman villas in [[Pompeii]] had frescoes of brilliant blue skies, and blue pigments were found in the shops of colour merchants.
The Romans had many different words for varieties of blue, including ''caeruleus'', ''caesius'', ''glaucus'', ''cyaneus'', ''lividus'', ''venetus'', ''aerius'', and ''ferreus'', but two words, both of foreign origin, became the most enduring; ''blavus'', from the Germanic word ''blau'', which eventually became ''bleu'' or blue; and ''azureus'', from the Arabic word ''lazaward'', which became azure.Michel Pastoureau, Bleu- Histoire d'une couleur, pg. 26.


File:Mesolapis.jpg.jpeg|[[Lapis lazuli]] pendant from [[Mesopotamia]] (Circa 2900 BC).
File:Lapis bowl Iran.JPG|A lapis azuli bowl from Iran (End of 3rd, beginning 2nd millennium BC)
File:Blue hippo Egypt.JPG|A hippo decorated with aquatic plants, made of faience with a blue glaze, made to resemble lapis lazuli. (2033-1710 BC)
File:"Pond in a Garden" (fresco from the Tomb of Nebamun).jpg|[[Egyptian blue]] colour in a tomb painting (Around 1500 BC)
File:Egyptian - Faience Bowl - Walters 48451 - Interior.jpg|Egyptian faience bowl (Between 1550-1450 BC)
File:Egyptian - "Malqata Kateriskos" Vessel - Walters 4732 - Profile.jpg|a decorated cobalt glass vessel from Ancient Egypt (1450-1350 BC)
File:Tutmask.jpg|The blue eyebrows in the gold funeral mask of King Tutankhamun are made of lapis lazuli. Other blues in the mask are made of turquoise, glass and faience.
File:Seth tomb blue.JPG|Figure of a servant from the tomb of King Seth I (1244-1279 BC). The figure is made of [[faience]] with a blue glaze, designed to resemble turquoise.
File:Babylon relief.jpg|A lion against a blue background from the [[Ishtar Gate]] of ancient [[Babylon]]. (575 BC)
File:Pompejanischer Maler um 30 001.jpg|A Roman wall painting of [[Venus]] and her son [[Eros]], from Pompeii (about 30 BC)
File:Metropolitan wall painting Roman 1C BC 7.jpg|Mural in the bedroom of the villa of Fannius Synestor in [[Boscoreale]], (50-40 BC) in the [[Metropolitan Museum]].
File:China qing blue.JPG| A painted pottery pot coloured with [[Han blue]] from the [[Han Dynasty]] in China (206 BC to 220 AD).
File:Eastern Han Luoyang Mural of Liubo players.jpg|A tomb painting from the eastern [[Han Dynasty]] (25-220 AD) in [[Henan]] Province, [[China]].


===Blue in the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic World===
Dark blue was widely used in the decoration of churches in the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantine art Christ and the Virgin Mary usually wore dark blue or purple. Blue was used as a background colour representing the sky in the magnificent mosaics which decorated Byzantine churches.L. Brehier, ''Les mosaiques a fond d'azur'', in ''Etudes byzantines'', volume III, Paris, 1945. Pg. 46 and the following pages.

In the Islamic world, blue was of secondary importance to green, believed to be the favourite colour of the [[Prophet Mohammed]]. At certain times in [[Moorish Spain]] and other parts of the Islamic world, blue was the colour worn by Christians and Jews, because only Muslims were allowed to wear white and green.Anne Varichon, Couleurs- Pigments et teintures dans les mains des peoples, pg. 175 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 in [[Persian miniatures]].


File:Meister des Mausoleums der Galla Placidia in Ravenna 001.jpg|Blue Byzantine mosaic ceiling representing the night sky in the [[Mausoleum of Galla Placidia]] in [[Ravenna]], Italy (5th century).
File:Hagiasophia-christ.jpg|Blue mosaic in the cloak of Christ in the [[Hagia Sophia]] church in [[Istanbul]] (13th century).
File:Bowl with rosettes from Iran, 12th century, glazed stone-paste, HAA.JPG|Glazed stone-paste bowl from [[Persia]] (12th century).
File:Mubarakshah ibn Qutb - Left Side of a Double-page Illuminated Frontispiece - Walters W5592A - Full Page.jpg|Decorated page of a [[Koran]] from [[Persia]] (1373 AD)
File:HeratFridayMosque.jpg| Blue tile on the facade of the Friday Mosque in [[Herat]], [[Afghanistan]] (15th century).
File:Behzad advice ascetic.jpg|[[Persian miniature]] from the 16th century.
File:4219 Istanbul - Topkapi - Harem - Sala di Murat III - Foto G. Dall'Orto 27-5-2006.jpg|Decoration in the [[Murat III]] hall of the [[Topkapi Palace]] in [[Istanbul]] (16th century).
File:Tile panel flowers Louvre OA3919-2-297.jpg|Flower-pattern tile from [[Iznik]], Turkey, from second half of 16th century.
File:Granada Alhambra gazelle Poterie 9019.JPG|Gazelle against a blue sky in the Alhambra Palace, Spain (14th century)


===Blue during the Middle Ages===
In the art and life of Europe during the early Middle Ages, blue played a minor role. The nobility wore red or purple, while only the poor wore blue clothing, coloured with poor-quality dyes made from the [[woad]] 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 the [[Abbe Suger]] rebuilt the [[Saint Denis Basilica]]. He installed [[stained glass]] windows coloured with [[cobalt]], which, combined with the light from the red glass, filled the church with a bluish violet light. The church became the marvel of the Christian world, and the colour 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 at [[Chartres Cathedral]] and [[Sainte-Chapelle]] in Paris.Michel Pastoureau, Bleu- Histoire d'une couleur, pg. 44-47

Another important factor in the increased prestige of the colour blue in the 12th century was the veneration of the [[Virgin Mary]], and a change in the colours 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 they began to be painted a rich lighter blue, usually made with a new pigment imported from Asia; [[ultramarine]]. Blue became associated with holiness, humility and virtue.

Ultramarine was made from lapis lazuli, from the mines of [[Badakshan]], in the mountains of [[Afghanistan]], near the source of the [[Oxus]] River. The mines were visited by Marco 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 called ''bleu outremer'' in French and ''blu otramere'' in Italian, since it came from the other side of the sea. It cost far more than any other colour, and it became the luxury colour for the Kings and Princes of Europe.Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and Invention of Colour''. Pg. 346

King [[Louis 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 mythical [[King 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 golden [[fleur-de-lis]] or lilies. Blue had come from obscurity to become the royal colour.Michel Pastoureau, Blue- Histoire d'une couleur, pg. 51-52.

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 it bergblau, 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 painter [[Albrecht Durer]].Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Colour''. Pg. 139-140

Another blue often used in the Middle Ages was called tournesol or folium. It was made from the plant [[Crozophora tinctoria]], which grew in the south of France. It made a fine transparent blue valued in medieval manuscripts.Philip Ball, Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Colour. Pg. 141-143

Another common blue pigment was [[smalt]], 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 by [[Titian]], [[Tintoretto]], [[Paolo Veronese|Veronese]], [[El Greco]], [[Van Dyck]], [[Rubens]] and [[Rembrandt]].Philip Ball, Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Colour. Pg. 178


File:Basilique Saint-Denis chapelle de la Vierge.jpg|Stained glass windows of the Basilica of Saint Denis (1141-1144).
File:Chartres - cath�ale - ND de la belle verri�.JPG|Notre Dame de la belle verriere window, Chartres Cathedral. (1180-1225).
File:Baptism Sainte-Chapelle MNMA Cl23717.jpg|Detail of the windows at Sainte-Chapelle (1250).
File:Duccio maesta1021.jpg|The Maesta by [[Duccio]] (1308) showed the Virgin Mary in a robe painted with ultramarine. Blue became the colour of holiness, virtue and humility.
File:Arms of the Kingdom of France (Ancien).svg|In the 12th century blue became part of the royal coat of arms of France.
File:Wilton diptych.jpg|The [[Wilton Diptych]], made for King [[Richard II of England]], made lavish use of [[ultramarine]]. (About 1400)
File:Coronation of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile 1223.jpg|The Coronation of King Louis VIII of France in 1223 showed that blue had become the royal colour. (painted in 1450).



===Blue in the European Renaissance===
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.Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and Invention of Colour'', pg. 165

Utramarine was the most prestigious blue of the Renaissance, and patrons sometimes specified that it be used in paintings they commissioned. The contract for the ''Madone des Harpies'' by [[Andrea del Sarto]] (1514) required that the robe of the Virgin Mary be coloured with ultramarine costing "at least five good florins an ounce."Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and Invention of Colour'', pg. 347 Good ultramarine was more expensive than gold; in 1508 the German painter [[Albrecht Durer]] reported in a letter that he had paid twelve ducats- the equivalent of forty-one grams of gold - for just thirty grams of ultramarine.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur- effets et symboliques'' (pg. 20).

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 The ''Madonna Enthroned with Saints'' by [[Raphael]] in the [[Metropolitan Museum]] in New York. The Virgin Mary's azurite blue robe has degraded into a greenish-black.[http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110001822 The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints]

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 in [[tempera]] painting, in frescoes. To balance their colours, Renaissance artists like Raphael added white to lighten the ultramarine. The sombre dark blue robe of the Virgin Mary became a brilliant sky blue.Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and Invention of Colour'', pg. 171 [[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.Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and Invention of Colour'', pg. 186-189

File:Giotto - Scrovegni - -18- - Adoration of the Magi.jpg|[[Giotto]] was one of the first Italian Renaissance painters to use [[ultramarine]], here in the murals of the Arena Chapel in [[Padua]] (circa 1305).
File:Angelico, madonna col bambino, pinacoteca sabauda.jpg|Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, the robes of the [[Virgin Mary]] were painted with [[ultramarine]]. This is ''The Virgin of Humility'' by [[Fra Angelico]] (about 1430). Blue fills the picture.
File:Raffael 030.jpg|In In the Virgin 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.
File:Giovanni Bellini 009.jpg|[[Giovanni Bellini]] was the master of the rich and luminous blue, which almost seemed to glow. This Madonna is from 1480.
File:Titian Bacchus and Ariadne.jpg|[[Titian]] used an ultramarine sky and robes to give depth and brilliance to [[Bacchus and Ariadne]] (1520-1523)

File:Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints.jpg|In this painting of ''The Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints'' an early work by [[Raphael]] in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], the blue cloak of the Virgin Mary has turned a green-black. It was painted with less-expensive [[azurite]].
File:Andrea della Robbia - Virgin Adoring the Christ Child - Walters 27212 (2).jpg |Glazed [[Terracotta]] of The Virgin Adoring the Christ Child, from the workshop of [[Andrea della Robbia]] (1483)
File:Les Tr�Riches Heures du duc de Berry Janvier.jpg| The [[Tr�Riches Heures du duc de Berry]] was the most important illuminated manuscript of the 15th century. The blue was the extravagantly expensive ultramarine, whose fine grains gave it its brilliant colour. It shows the Duc Du Berry himself seated at the lower right. His costume shows that blue had become a colour for the dress of the nobility, not just of peasants.


===Blue and white porcelain===
In about the 9th century, Chinese artisans abandoned the [[Han blue]] colour they had used for centuries, and began to use [[cobalt blue]], made with [[cobalt]] salts of [[alumina]], to manufacture fine [[blue 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, called [[Chinoiserie]]. 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.

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

File:Early blue and white ware circa 1335 Jingdezhen.jpg|Chinese [[blue and white porcelain]] from about 1335, made in Jingdezhen, the porcelain center of China. Exported to Europe, this porcelain launched the style of [[Chinoiserie]].
File:Rouen porcelain vase end of the 17th century.jpg|A [[soft-paste porcelain]] vase made in [[Rouen]], France, at the end of the 17th century, imitating Chinese blue and white.
File:Delftware pushkin museum01.jpg|Eighteenth century blue and white pottery from [[Delft]], in the [[Netherlands]].
File:LFZ chinaware 3.jpg|Russian porcelain of the cobalt net pattern, made with [[cobalt blue]] pigment. The [[Imperial Porcelain Factory]] in [[Saint Petersburg]] was founded in 1744. This pattern, first produced in 1949, was copied after a design made for [[Catherine the Great]].


===The war of the blues � indigo versus woad===
While blue was an expensive and prestigious colour in European painting, it became a common colour for clothing during the Renaissance. The rise of the colour blue in fashion in the 12th and 13th centuries led to the creation of a thriving blue dye industry in several European cities, notably [[Amiens]], [[Toulouse]] and [[Erfurt]]. They made a dye called pastel from [[woad]], a plant common in Europe, which had been used to make blue dye by the Celts and German tribes. Blue became a colour worn by domestics and artisans, not just nobles. In 1570, when Pope [[Pius V]] listed the colours that could be used for ecclesiastical dress and for altar decoration, he excluded blue, because he considered it too common.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur effets et symboliques'' (pg. 21)

The process of making blue with woad was particularly long and noxious- it involved soaking the leaves of the plant for from three days to a week in human urine, ideally urine from men who had been drinking a great deal of alcohol, which was said to improve the colour. The fabric was then soaked for a day in the urine, then put out in the sun, where as it dried it turned blue.

The pastel industry was threatened in the 15th century by the arrival from India of new blue dye, [[indigo]], made from a shrub widely grown in Asia. Indigo blue had the same chemical composition as woad, but it was more concentrated and produced a richer and more stable blue. In 1498, [[Vasco de Gama]] opened a trade route to import indigo from India to Europe. In India, the indigo leaves were soaked in water, fermented, pressed into cakes, dried into bricks, then carried to the ports London, Marseille, Genoa and Bruges. Later, in the 17th century, the British, Spanish and Dutch established indigo plantations in Jamaica, South Carolina, the Virgin Islands and South America, and began to import American indigo to Europe.

The countries with large and prosperous pastel industries tried to block the use of indigo. The German government outlawed the use of indigo in 1577, describing it as a "pernicious, deceitful and corrosive substance, the Devil's dye."[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13242/13242-8.txt ''Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science'', Volume 17, No. 100, April, 1876].D G Schreber, ''Historische, physische und economische Beschreibung des Waidtes'', 1752, the appendix; Thorpe JF and Ingold CK, 1923, ''Synthetic colouring matters - vat colours'' (London: Longmans, Green), p. 23 In France, [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]], in an edict of 1609, forbade under pain of death the use of "the false and pernicious Indian drug".{{cite book|last=Frost|first=John|title=The book of illustrious mechanics of Europe and America|year=1846|page=236|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TaQbAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA236&dq=henry+IV+woad&hl=en&ei=MxHFTff6M4KbOt_yyKII&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=henry%20IV%20woad&f=false|coauthors=translated from [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uqUJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA439&dq=%C3%89douard+Foucaud+Pastel&hl=en&ei=BRbFTZb_FYGftwe53YCdBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false the French of �ouard Foucaud]|accessdate=7 May 2011}} It was forbidden in England until 1611, when British traders established their own indigo industry in India and began to import it into Europe.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur - effets et symboliques'' (pg. 28)

The efforts to block indigo were in vain; the quality of indigo blue was too high and the price too low for pastel made from woad to compete. In 1737 both the French and German governments finally allowed the use of indigo. This ruined the dye industries in Toulouse and the other cities that produced pastel, but created a thriving new indigo commerce to seaports such as Bordeaux, Nantes and Marseille.F. Lauterbach, ''Der Kampf des Waides mit dem Indigo'', Leipzig, pg. 25. Cited by Michel Pastoureau, Bleu - Histoire d'une couleur, pg. 108-113.

Another war of the blues took place at the end of the 19th century, between indigo and the new synthetic indigo, first discovered in 1868 by the German chemist Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer. The German chemical firm BASF put the new dye on the market in 1897, in direct competition with the British-run indigo industry in India, which produced most of the world's indigo. In 1897 Britain sold ten thousand tons of natural indigo on the world market, while BASF sold six hundred tons of synthetic indigo. The British industry cut prices and reduced the salaries of its workers, but it was unable to compete; the synthetic indigo was more pure, made a more lasting blue, and was not dependent upon good or bad harvests. In 1911, India sold only 660 tons of natural indigo, while BASF sold 22,000 tons of synthetic indigo.

Not long after the battle between natural and synthetic indigo, chemists discovered a new synthetic blue dye, called indanthrene, which made a blue which did not fade. By the 1950s almost all fabrics, including blue jeans, were dyed with the new synthetic dye. In 1970, BASF stopped making synthetic indigo, and switched to newer synthetic blues.

File:Isatis tinctoria02.JPG|[[Isatis tinctoria]], or woad, was the main source of blue dye in Europe from ancient times until the arrival of indigo from Asia and America. It was processed into a paste called pastel.
File:The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestry 1.jpg|A Dutch tapestry from 1495-1505. The blue colour comes from [[woad]].
File:Indigofera tinctoria1.jpg|[[Indigofera tinctoria]], a tropical shrub, is the main source of indigo dye. The chemical composition of indigo dye is the same as that of woad, but the colour is more intense.
File:Indigo-Historische Farbstoffsammlung.jpg|Cakes of indigo. The leaf has been soaked in water, fermented, mixed with lye or another base, then pressed into cakes and dried, ready for export.
File:Schreber woad mill 1752.JPG|A woad mill in [[Thuringia]], in Germany, in 1752. The woad industry was already on its way to extinction, unable to compete with indigo blue.



===The blue uniform===
In the 17th century, [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg]], was one of the first rulers to gave 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 of [[Prussia]] in 1701, the uniform colour was adopted by the Prussian army. Most German soldiers wore dark blue uniforms until the [[First World War]], with the exception of the Bavarians, who wore light blue.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur, effets et symboliques'' (pg. 30)

Thanks in part to the availability of indigo dye, the 18th century saw the widespread use of blue military uniforms. Prior to 1748, British naval officers simply wore upper-class civilian clothing and wigs. In 1748, the British uniform for naval officers was officially established as an embroidered coat of the colour then called marine blue, now known as [[navy blue]].J.R. Hill, ''The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. When the [[Continental Navy]] of the United States was created in 1775, it largely copied the British uniform and colour.

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 of [[George Washington]] organised a voluntary militia unit (the Fairfax County Independent Company of Volunteers) and elected Washington the honorary commander. For their uniforms they chose blue and [[Buff (colour)|buff]], the colours of the [[Whig (British political party)|Whig Party]], the opposition party in England, whose policies were supported by George Washington and many other [[Patriot (American Revolution)|patriot]]s in the American colonies.[http://blueandbuff.blogspot.com/2009/10/buff-and-blue-whig-politics-in-late.html Blue and Buff: Buff and Blue: Whig politics in the late 18th century]Ron Chernow, ''Washington - A Life'', pg. 174. ISBN 978-0-14-31996-8.

When the [[Continental Army]] was established in 1775 at the outbreak of the [[American Revolution]], the first [[Continental 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 and [[buff (colour)|buff]]. Blue continued to be the colour of the field uniform of the U.S. Army until 1902, and is still the colour of the dress uniform.[http://www.army.mil/symbols/uniforms/history.html Army Dress Uniform]

In France, the [[Gardes Fran�ses]], the elite regiment which protected [[Louis 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 the [[storming of the Bastille]]. After the fall of Bastille, a new armed force, the [[Garde Nationale]], was formed under the command of the [[Marquis de Lafayette]], who had served with George Washington in America. Lafayette gave the Garde Nationale dark blue uniforms similar to those of the Continental Army. Blue became the colour of the Revolutionary armies, opposed to the white uniforms of the Royalists and the Austrians.Jean Tulard, Jean-Fran�s Fayard, Alfred Fierro, ''Histoire et dictionnaire de la R�lution fran�se'', 1789�1799, �itions Robert Laffont, collection Bouquins, Paris, 1987. ISBN 2-7028-2076-X

[[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 controlled the seas and blocked the importation of indigo to France. Napoleon was forced to dye uniforms with woad, which had an inferior blue colour.Michel Pastoureau, ''Bleu- Histoire d'une couleur'', pg. 137-140 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 of [[World 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, when [[Robert Peel]] created the first [[London Metropolitan Police]], he made the colour of the uniform jacket a dark, almost black blue, to make the policemen look different from soldiers, who until then had patrolled the streets. The traditional blue jacket with silver buttons of the London "bobbie" was not abandoned until the mid-1990s, when it was replaced by a light blue shirt and a jumper or sweater of the colour officially known as NATO blue.[http://www.met.police.uk/history/definition.htm Metropolitan Police Service - History - Definition & History of Policing]

The [[New York City Police Department]], modeled after the London Metropolitan Police, was created in 1844, and in 1853, they were officially given a navy blue uniform, the colour they wear today.{{Citation |last=Okidegbe |first=Ngozi |chapter=I Love a Man in Uniform: The Debate Surrounding Uniforming the New York Police Force in the 19th Century |editor-last=Wiggerich |editor-first=Sandro |editor2-last=Kensy |editor2-first=Steven |title=Staat Macht Uniform |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |publication-date=2011 |isbn=978-3-515-09933-2}}

File:Inf. Regiment Nr.3.jpg|Elector Frederic William of Brandenburg gave his soldiers blue uniforms (engraving from 1698). When Brandenburg became the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, blue became the uniform colour of the Prussian Army.
File:Lieutenant with Cutter 1777.jpg|Uniform of a lieutenant in the [[Royal Navy]] (1777). Marine blue became the official colour of the Royal Navy uniform coat in 1748.
File:Washington 1779.jpg|George Washington chose blue and buff as the colours of the [[Continental Army]] uniform. They were the colours of the English [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]] Party, which Washington admired.
File:Le serment de La Fayette a la fete de la Federation 14 July 1790 French School 18th century.jpg|The [[Marquis de Lafayette]] in the uniform of the [[Garde Nationale]] during the French Revolution (1790).
File:ESM St Cyr cadets DSC03305.JPG|The cadets of the [[�ole sp�ale militaire de Saint-Cyr]], the French military academy, still wear the blue and red uniform of the French army before 1915.
File:Police uniform NY 1854.jpg|In 1853, New York policemen and firemen were officially outfitted in navy blue uniforms.
File:Very friendly MPS officers in London.jpg|[[Metropolitan police]] officers in Soho, London (2007).
File:5.29.10NYPDByLuigiNovi6.jpg|New York City police officers on Times Square (2010).
File:Chicago police officer on segway.jpg|Chicago policeman in blue on a [[Segway PT]](2005)


===The search for the perfect blue===
During the 17th and 18th centuries, chemists in Europe tried to discover a way to create synthetic blue pigments, avoiding the expense of importing and grinding lapis lazuli, azurite and other minerals. The Egyptians had created a synthetic colour, Egyptian blue, three thousand years BC, but the formula had been lost. The Chinese had also created synthetic pigments, but the formula was not known in the west.

In 1709, a German druggist and pigment maker named Diesbach accidentally discovered a new blue while experimenting with potassium and iron sulphides. The new colour was first called Berlin blue, but later became known as [[Prussian blue]]. By 1710 it was being used by the French painter [[Antoine Watteau]], and later his successor [[Nicolas Lancret]]. It became immensely popular for the manufacture of wallpaper, and in the 19th century was widely used by French impressionist painters.Michel Pastoureau, ''Bleu - HIstoire d'une couleur'', pg. 114-116

Beginning in 1820s, Prussian blue was imported into Japan through the port of [[Nagasaki]]. It was called ''bero-ai'', or Berlin Blue, and it became popular because it did not fade like traditional Japanese blue pigment, ''ai-gami'', made from the [[dayflower]]. Prussian blue was used by both [[Hokusai]], in his famous wave paintings, and [[Hiroshige]].oger Keyes, ''Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Catalogue of the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection'', R, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, 1984, p. 42, plate #140, p. 91 and catalogue entry #439, p. 185. for more on the story of Prussian blue in Japanese prints, see also the website of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

In 1824, the Societ�our l'Encouragement d'Industrie in France offered a prize for the invention of an artificial [[ultramarine]] which could rival the natural colour made from lapis lazuli. The prize was won in 1826 by a chemist named Jean Baptiste Guimet, but he refused to reveal the formula of his colour. In 1828, another scientist, [[Christian Gmelin]] then a professor of chemistry in T�n, found the process and published his formula. This was the beginning of new industry to manufacture artificial ultramarine, which eventually almost completely replaced the natural product.Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 206

In 1878, a German chemist named a. Von Baeyer discovered a synthetic substitute for [[indigotine]], the active ingredient of indigo. This product gradually replaced natural indigo, and after the end of the First World War, it brought an end to the trade of indigo from the East and West Indies.

In 1901, a new synthetic blue dye, called [[Indanthrone blue]], was invented, which had even greater resistance to fading during washing or in the sun. This dye gradually replaced artificial indigo, whose production ceased in about 1970. Today almost all blue clothing is dyed with an indanthrone blue.Eva Heller, ''Psychologie de la couleur,'' page 32.

File:Great Wave off Kanagawa2.jpg|The 19th century Japanese woodblock artist, [[Hokusai]] used [[Prussian blue]], a synthetic colour imported from Europe, in his wave paintings.
File:Indigoproduktion BASF 1890.JPG|A synthetic indigo dye factory in Germany in 1890. The manufacture of this dye ended the trade in indigo from America and India that had begun in the 15th century.



===Blue and the Impressionist painters===
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 colours most used by the [[Impressionism|Impressionists]], twelve were new and synthetic colours, including cobalt blue, ultramarine and cerulean blue.Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Colour'', pg. 265.

Another important influence on painting in the 19th century was the theory of complementary colours, developed by the French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul in 1828 and published in 1839. He demonstrated that placing complementary colours, such as blue and yellow-orange or ultramarine and yellow, next to each other heightened the intensity of each colour "to the apogee of their tonality."Michel Eugene Chevreul, ''De la loi du contraste simultan�des couleurs'', Paris, (1839). Cited by Philip Ball, pg. 257. In 1879 an American physicist, Ogden Rood, published a book charting the complementary colours of each colour in the spectrum.Ogden Rood, Modern Chromatics, (1879). This principle of painting was used by Claude Monet in his ''Impression � Sunrise � Fog'' (1872), where he put a vivid blue next to a bright orange sun, (1872) and in ''R�te �rgenteuil'' (1872), where he painted an orange sun against blue water. The colours brighten each other. Renoir used the same contrast of cobalt blue water and an orange sun in ''Canotage sur la Seine'' (1879�1880). Both Monet and Renoir liked to use pure colours, without any blending.

Monet and the impressionists were among the first to observe that shadows were full of colour. In his ''La 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.Philip Ball, ''Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Colour'', pg. 268. Blue was a favorite colour 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 of [[Auguste Renoir]] and [[Vincent van Gogh]]. It was similar to [[smalt]], a pigment used for centuries to make blue glass, but it was much improved by the French chemist [[Louis Jacques Th�rd]], 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�"{{cite web |title=Cobalt blue |url=http://webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/overview/coblue.html}}

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."Letter to his brother Theo, (1888). Cited by Philip Ball, from "Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, edited by M. Roskill, Flamingo, London, 2000. Pg. 268.

File:La Gare Saint-Lazare.jpg|[[Claude Monet]] used several recently-invented colours in his ''Gare Saint-Lazare'' (1877). He used [[cobalt blue]], invented in 1807, [[cerulean blue]] invented in 1860, and French [[ultramarine]], first made in 1828.
File:Claude Monet 042.jpg|In ''R�te �rgenteuil'' (1872), Monet used two complementary colours together � blue and orange � to brighten the effect of both colours.
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir 122.jpg|''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.
File:VanGogh-Irises 1.jpg|In Vincent Van Gogh's Irises, the blue irises are placed against their complementary colour, yellow-orange.
File:Starry Night Over the Rhone.jpg|Van Gogh's ''Starry Night Over the Rhone'' (1888). Blue used to create a mood or atmosphere. A cobalt blue sky, and cobalt or ultramarine water.
File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 041.jpg|''Wheatfield under clouded sky'' (July 1890), One of the last paintings by [[Vincent van Gogh]], He wrote of cobalt blue, "there is nothing so beautiful for putting atmosphere around things."


===The blue suit===
The modern blue business suit has its roots in England in the middle of the 17th century. Following the London plague of 1665 and the [[London fire]] of 1666, King [[Charles II of England]] ordered that men's fashion should be more sober and less extravagant; courtiers were instructed to wear simple coats, waistcoats and breeches, and the palette of colours became blue, grey, white and buff. This became the uniform of the London merchant class and the English country gentleman."Suitably Dressed," the ''Economist'', December 16, 2010.

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 of [[George Washington]], who principles he supported. The men's suit followed the basic form of the military uniforms of the time, particularly the uniforms of the cavalry.

In the early 19th century, during the [[British Regency|Regency]] of the future King [[George IV]], the blue suit was revolutionized by a courtier named George [[Beau 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 colours, 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."*Kelly, Ian. ''Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy''. Hodder & Stoughton, 2005 This fashion was adopted by the Prince Regent, then by London society and the upper classes. Originally the coat and trousers were different colours, 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.


File:Anthony Lee Portrait of Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Milltown.jpg|Joseph Leeson, later 1st Earl of Milltown, in the uniform of the English country gentleman in the 1730s.
File:Charles James Fox00.jpg| [[Charles James Fox]], a leader of the [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]] Party in England, wore a blue suit in Parliament in support of George Washington and the American Revolution. Portrait by [[Joshua Reynolds]] (1782).
File:BrummellDighton1805.jpg|[[Beau Brummel]] introduced the ancestor of the modern blue suit, shaped to the body, with a coat, long trousers, waistcoat, white shirt and elaborate [[cravat]] (1805).
File:Mens fashion plate 1826 2.jpg|Man's suit, 1826. Dark blue suits were still rare; this one is blue-green or [[teal]].
File:Caillebotte Hugot.jpg|Man's blue suit in the 1870s, Paris. Painting by [[Caillebotte]]. In the second half of the 19th century the monochrome suit had became the fashion, but most suits were black.
File:1962 Entrance Hall (Official White House) Christmas tree - Jack and Jacqueline Kennedy.jpg|President [[John Kennedy]] popularized the blue two-button business suit, less formal than the suits of his predecessors. (1961)
File:G20 - Cumbre de Cannes - 20011103.jpg| In the 21st century, the dark blue suit is the most common uniform of world leaders, seen here at the 2011 [[G-20 Summit]] in [[Cannes]], France.


===Blue in the 20th and 21st century===
At the beginning of the 20th century, many artists recognised the emotional power of blue, and made it the central element of paintings. During his [[Blue Period]] (1901-1904) [[Pablo Picasso]] used blue and green, with hardly any warm colours, to create a melancholy mood. In Russia, the [[symbolist]] painter [[Pavel Kuznetsov]] and the [[Blue Rose (art group)|Blue Rose]] art group (1906-1908) used blue to create a fantastic and exotic atmosphere. In Germany, [[Wassily Kandinsky]] and other Russian �gr�formed the art group called [[Der Blaue Reiter]] (The Blue Rider), and used blue to symbolise spirituality and eternity.Wassily Kandinsky, M. T. Sadler (Translator) ''Concerning the Spiritual in Art''. Dover Publ. (Paperback). 80 pp.�ISBN 0-486-23411-8. [[Henri Matisse]] used intense blues to express the emotions he wanted viewers to feel. Matisse wrote, "A certain blue penetrates your soul.""Un certain bleu p�tre votre �." Cited by C.A. Riley, ''Color Codes'', University Press of New England, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1995.

In the art of the second half of the 20th century, painters of the [[abstract expressionist]] movement began to use blue and other colours in pure form, without any attempt to represent anything, to inspire ideas and emotions. Painter [[Mark Rothko]] observed that colour was "only an instrument;" his interest was "in expressing human emotions tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on."''Mark Rothko 1903�1970''. Tate Gallery Publishing, 1987.

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 favorite colour of over fifty percent of respondents. Green was far behind with twenty percent, while white and red received about eight percent each.Michel Pastoureau, ''Bleu - Histoire d'une couleur'', pg. 149-153.

In 1873 a German immigrant in San Francisco, [[Levi Strauss]], invented a sturdy kind of work trousers, made of [[denim]] fabric and coloured with [[indigo]] dye, called [[jeans|blue jeans]]. In 1935, they were raised to the level of high fashion by [[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue 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 the [[Second World War]], blue was adopted as the colour of important international organisations, including the [[United Nations]], the [[Council of Europe]], [[UNESCO]], the [[European Union]]); and [[NATO]]. United Nations peacekeepers wear blue helmets to stress their peacekeeping role.

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

In the 20th century, it also became possible to own your own colour of blue. The French artist [[Yves Klein]], with the help of a French paint dealer, created a specific blue called [[International Klein blue]], which he patented. It was made of ultramarine combined with a resin called Rhodopa, which gave it a particularly brilliant colour. The baseball team the Los Angeles Dodgers developed its own blue, called [[Dodger blue]], and several American universities invented new blues for their colours.


File:Old guitarist chicago.jpg|During his [[Blue Period]], [[Pablo Picasso]] used blue as the colour of melancholy.
File:Kuznetsov vstepi.jpg|The Russian avante-garde painter [[Pavel Kuznetsov]] and his group, the [[Blue Rose]], used blue to symbolise fantasy and exoticism. ''This is In the Steppe- Mirage'' (1911).
File:Kandinsky-Blue Rider.jpg|The [[Blue Rider]] (1903), by [[Wassily Kandinsky]], For Kandinsky, blue was the colour of spirituality: the darker the blue, the more it awakened human desire for the eternal.
File:Matisse Conversation.jpg|''The Conversation'' (1908-1912) by [[Henri Matisse]] used blue to express the emotions he wanted the viewer to feel.
File:Jeans for men.jpg|[[Jeans|Blue jeans]], made of [[denim]] coloured with [[indigo]] dye, patented by [[Levi Strauss]] in 1873, became an essential part of the wardrobe of young people beginning in the 1950s.
File:UN Soldiers in Eritrea.jpeg|Blue is the colour of [[United Nations peacekeepers]], known as Blue Helmets. These soldiers are patrolling the border between [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]].
File:No 61 Mark Rothko.jpg|"Rust and Blue", by [[Mark Rothko]] (1951). In 20th century abstract painting, blue was used for its own sake, to create what Rothko called "Basic human emotions."
File:Luminol2006.jpg|Vivid blues can be created by chemical reactions, called [[chemiluminescence]]. This is [[luminol]], a chemical used in crime scene investigations. Luminol glows blue when it contacts even a tiny trace of blood.

File:Blaues pferd.jpg|Blue [[neon lighting]], first used in commercial advertising, is now used in works of art. This is ''Zwei Pferde f�ster'' (''Two horses for M�''), a neon sculpture by [[:de:Stephan Huber|Stephan Huber]] (2002), in Munster, Germany.

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