Man's use of natural pigments dates back over 100,000 years. Recent archaeological discoveries in South Africa's Blombos Caves have revealed the existence, as early as this period, of multiple tools for the production and storage of ochre-based pigments. Other archaeological contexts reveal how prehistoric artists were able to find and select natural pigments, and develop painting recipes, each corresponding to a specific mixture of one or more pigments with, in some cases, filler minerals - i.e. of low opacity and coloration - and binders.
These early uses of color involved black, yellow or red materials, most often charcoal, iron oxide or manganese. The mineralogical variability of metal oxides, their texture and sometimes their hue, demonstrates that strategies were developed to exploit nature and select materials suitable for decorating walls or furnishings made of bone, ivory or stone. In the case of the Lascaux cave, analysis of the chemical elements present in the form of impurities has made it possible to determine the relationships between certain figures, which were made using identical materials in every respect, thus making it possible to pinpoint the chronology of the stages involved in decorating the various rooms.
It was only much later, at the dawn of the historical periods, that painters were able to take advantage of the new colors resulting from the invention of chemical synthesis processes. Egyptian blue and green pigments were produced using techniques derived from the arts of fire. Very similar protocols were developed in China to prepare blue and violet pigments. In Greece, the synthesis of lead white required the development of protocols involving slow alteration reactions of metallic lead sheets in the presence of vinegar vapour and carbon dioxide from the air. These synthesis processes are complex and must have been difficult to invent without precise chemical knowledge.
From the 19thcentury onwards, a truly scientific approach was adopted to broaden the range of pigments available for painting. New blue pigments, such as Thénard blue or cobalt blue, and artificial ultramarine were invented and widely used by artists.
