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The History of Colour:
Lifocolor Explains the Evolution from the First Colourants to Modern Pigments for Plastics
From the earliest earth pigments in cave paintings to modern high-performance pigments: an accessible journey through 50,000+ years of colour history – from the perspective of a pigment and masterbatch specialist.
Colour has accompanied humankind for thousands of years. Long before it was designed, mixed or industrially produced, it served as expression, symbol and tool alike. The history of colour is closely linked to the history of pigments – and therefore to the question of how people learned to use materials deliberately in order to make colour permanently visible.
From today’s perspective as a masterbatch manufacturer, this development is particularly fascinating. It shows how an ever-expanding colour spectrum evolved from just a few natural raw materials – leading to the highly specialised pigments used in plastics today.
The Beginning: Earth Pigments and Humanity’s First “Colours”
The oldest known coloured representations created by humans date back more than 51,000 years. One of the earliest figurative cave paintings was discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
At the time, the colour palette was limited but highly effective. People used what they found in their surroundings: ground earth, burnt wood and light-coloured clays. These pigments were applied to rock surfaces using simple binders such as animal fats or plant juices.
The most important early colours were:
- Red and orange from iron-rich ochres
- Yellow from hydrated iron oxides
- Black from charcoal or manganese compounds
- White from kaolin, limestone or gypsum
These so-called earth pigments were robust, lightfast and widely available – characteristics that still determine whether a pigment becomes established over the long term.
Ancient Innovation: Egyptian Blue as the First Synthetic Pigment
With the rise of ancient civilisations, the use of colour changed fundamentally. Pigments were no longer only collected but deliberately manufactured. Fruit and vegetable dyes, as well as dyes from animal secretions, were among the original dyes used for clothing. And the ancient Egyptians were among the first to fix plant dyes using powders such as chalk or clay. Examples include:
- Purple: From glandular secretions of murex snails
- Indigo: From indigofera plants
- Madder (alizarin): From rubia roots; basis for red tones
- Cochineal (carmine): From scale insects; intense red tones
A key example is Egyptian Blue, the first known artificially produced pigment. It was created by firing a mixture of quartz sand, copper ores, lime and a flux at high temperatures. The result was an intensely blue, light-stable material.
For the first time, colour became a technologically controllable material – reproducible, durable and manufacturable in larger quantities. This principle still forms the basis of industrial colour production today.
Precious Pigments: When Colour Was a Luxury
In antiquity, the Middle Ages and the early modern period, colour often functioned as a status symbol. This is particularly evident in the case of ultramarine, originally derived from the natural stone lapis lazuli.
At that time, colour was not merely a design element but an expression of power, importance and value. Only the later synthetic production of such pigments made colour more widely accessible.
The development of synthetic ultramarine ultimately made this blue economically viable for industrial applications.
New Paths to Colour: From Natural Materials to Targeted Synthesis
From the late 18th century – and especially during the 19th century – the world of colour changed dramatically. Increasingly, pigments were no longer derived from rare natural materials but specifically manufactured.
The basic principle is easy to explain: by combining selected raw materials in a controlled way and converting them under defined conditions, new colour-bearing materials are created. Colour is no longer “found”, but designed – with predictable properties such as shade, stability and purity.
This marked the beginning of industrial pigment production, democratising access to colour and significantly expanding the available colour space.
The Explosion of Colour Variety: Organic Pigments and New Colour Spaces
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the development of organic pigments led to an unprecedented diversity of colours. New molecular structures enabled brilliant reds, vibrant yellows and oranges, as well as intense blues and greens.
These pigments were highly colour-strong and versatile. For the first time, colours could be finely adjusted and tailored to specific applications – from printing inks and coatings to plastics.
For modern masterbatch development, this is crucial: colour is no longer simply mixed, but functionally formulated.
Modern Pigments Till Today: Colour as a Technical Material
Today, thousands of pigments are available. They differ not only in shade, but also in properties such as temperature resistance, light and weather fastness, and dispersibility in polymers.
Broadly speaking, they can be divided into:
- Inorganic pigments, which are generally very stable, opaque and durable
- Organic pigments, which enable particularly brilliant and intense colours
In modern masterbatches, these pigment types are deliberately combined to ensure both design freedom and technical performance.
Even today, development has not come to an end. New pigments emerge wherever new requirements arise – for example in relation to energy efficiency, recyclability or specific optical effects.
The history of colour shows that colour diversity does not grow randomly, but whenever material knowledge, technology and application come together. Every colour stands on the shoulders of thousands of years of development – while simultaneously being part of the next evolutionary step.
Sources (all last accessed on 22 December 2025):
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) (o. J.): Prehistoric pigments and dyes. Royal Society of Chemistry – Education Resources. URL: https://edu.rsc.org/resources/prehistoric-pigments-and-dyes.
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) (o. J.): Pigments used in prehistoric art. Royal Society of Chemistry – Education. URL: https://edu.rsc.org/feature/pigments-used-in-prehistoric-art/2020083.article
WELTKUNST (2024): Älteste gegenständliche Höhlenmalerei auf Sulawesi gefunden. WELTKUNST, 4. Juli 2024. URL: https://www.weltkunst.de/kunstwissen/2024/07/aelteste-gegenstaendliche-hoehlenmalerei-auf-sulawesi-gefunden
WebExhibits (o. J.): Pigments through the Ages. WebExhibits – Interactive Museum. URL: https://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/
ArtsLookup (o. J.): Stone Age Colour Palette. ArtsLookup – Art History Resource. URL: https://artslookup.com/stone-age-colour-palette
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – CAMEO (o. J.): Egyptian Blue. Conservation & Art Materials Encyclopedia Online (CAMEO). URL: https://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Egyptian_blue
Winsor & Newton (o. J.): History of pigments – Ultramarine. Winsor & Newton – Artists’ Resources. URL: https://www.winsornewton.com/na/articles/colours/history-of-colour/
Smithsonian Magazine (2016): Why This Brilliant Blue Pigment Was Forgotten for Centuries. Smithsonian Magazine. URL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-blue-pigment-rediscovered-180959088/
Oregon State University (2017): YInMn Blue: A new blue pigment discovered by accident. Oregon State University – College of Science. URL: https://science.oregonstate.edu/science-news/yinmn-blue-discovered-accident
American Chemical Society (ACS) (o. J.): The development of synthetic dyes in the 19th century. American Chemical Society – National Historic Chemical Landmarks. URL: https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/syntheticdyes.html
ColourLex (o. J.): Pigment timelines and history. ColourLex – Pigment Database. URL: https://colourlex.com/project-category/pigment-history/
Fotos: Unsplash Ajay Meganathan / Jyoti Singh / Rabah Al Shammary