 | | | | © Michel Chassat / Royaumont |
Colour has always conveyed many meanings, to the point of ambivalence. Colours, as symbols, often define religious or social identity. Colour has now taken on an important economic role as a marketing tool since it is the first message of a product to be perceived by a consumer. It is now possible to measure and quantify colour, thanks to the recent technology of colorimetry.
white
White remains associated with divine light and by extension with angels and ghosts. White was long the colour of the poor, since dyes were costly and white is easier to care for than coloured fabric. White also connotes purity and cleanliness, and it is a symbol of peace, wisdom (white hair) and social standing (white collar). Pale white skin was a sign of belonging to the upper classes, as opposed to the ruddy complexion of peasants. This value was reversed in the 19th century with the emergence of the new working class shut up in factories. White is now indispensable for beauty and personal care products, lingerie and paper.
black
Black long retained a negative image; but then, in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the elite began to seek it out as a costly colour and in the 19th century it became the colour of elegance and luxury.
green
Green was considered the colour “of the devil and of misfortune” because green dye was unstable and because one of its ingredients, copper oxide, is toxic. Because of its changeability, it became the colour of chance, of money (greenback) and gambling (green cloth). The association of green with nature only dates from the Romantic period. Borne by the ecological movement, green has now come to symbolise spring, renewal (chlorophyll) and well-being, and it is making a major comeback in “organic” and health-related products.
red
Red is the ambivalent colour. It is associated with power, but also with hell and with death. It was the colour of the robes of the Pope in the late Middle Ages and of Satan in paintings. It is the colour of the blood of Christ crucified, of violent crime and of lechery. Red, today, is still associated with war, power and force, prohibition and murder, but it is also a positive colour symbolising the energetic, the vibrant, the seductive. It is a colour often found in sports cars because it connotes speed and power.
blue
Blue, which hardly occurs in nature, remained a rare colour until the Middle Ages when the “God of Light”, seated in Heaven, was expressed by the colour blue and it came into widespread use in the Christian world. Dye based on indigo, was initially taken from woad and later from the indigo tree, which has a much higher concentration, so that the blue colour spread throughout society in the 18th century. Blue became the widely-used colour in the West, from the 19th century onwards, and was used for example in blue jeans or uniforms. It is also a relaxing colour, like the blue of the sky and of water; signifying freshness, it is widely used in the food industry.
yellow
In the Middle Ages, yellow competed with gold, which made it look drab, and it rapidly took on a negative connotation, becoming the emblematic colour of treachery. During the 19th century, with the impressionists, yellow came to signify warmth and light. In the plant kingdom, yellow is the colour of spring, since the first flowers of the year are often yellow. It is also associated with sweetness and flavour, as in wheat and honey.
Alain Chrisment
Consultant Couleur & Colorimétrie
Président Directeur Général de 3C S.A
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