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About Ultramarine Blue

Ultramarine blue and lapis lazuli: precious blue pigments, profound and magical in their effect. They have a long history, a confusing origin, and have always had the status of a remarkable blue color in every manifestation. Find out more about this most special color. The topics:

Ultramarine or lapis lazuli?

A case for chemists.

Ultramarine factories.

Visible differences.

Can a color be protected? Our experiences with the Yves Klein Foundation.

Make your own Ultramarine.

Ultramarine or lapis lazuli?

The terms themselves are revealing. Ultramarine comes from ‘ultra-mare’ and means ‘beyond the sea’. Lapis means ‘stone’ in Latin. Lazuli is derived from the Persian word lazuward for ‘sky-blue’ and ‘ translucent’ and lapis lazuli means ‘the sky-blue translucent stone’.

The most important sources where this volcanic semi-precious stone is found are in Afghanistan, and in the Middle Ages, the much sought-after stone reached Europe by sea. The stormy winter months and piracy made travelling by sea difficult and the precious pigment was more costly than gold. Originally, the pigment ultramarine was a ground, semi-precious stone sourced from Afghanistan.

The semi-precious stone lapis lazuli from Afghanistan

A case for chemists

The shortage of natural ultramarine, which persists to this day, prompted the Parisian ‘Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale’ to offer a prize of 6,000 francs for the invention of a manufacturing process using accessible raw materials. Almost simultaneously, in 1827-1828, Gmelin in Tübingen, Guimet in Toulouse and Köttig in Meissen discovered processes for the production of ultramarine from quartz, kaolin, soda, charcoal and sulphur. They mixed the raw materials in a kiln that happen to merge in veins within volcanoes, thereby producing on demand the deep blue minerals that characterize the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli. These chemists developed the first processes for the production of synthetic ultramarine. The deep blue powder, which is synthetic, was named, simply, ultramarine.

Ultramarine factories

Ultramarine, that costly, ground semi-precious stone,was initially a ‘sky-blue stone from across the sea’. After that, the new pigment produced in factories and marketed as ‘ultramarine’ until about 1980. This could be described as mislabelling, as the pigment was no longer came from across the sea. But it was chemically related. Artists enthusiastically embraced the purer, synthetic pigment. Yves Klein was the most famous, but by no means the only one. Ultramarine is an optical brightener in both its natural and synthetic versions. The new, synthetic ultramarine was not only marketed as a pigment, but also as a laundry bluing agent. By 1880, this profitable business had led to the establishment of 24 ultramarine factories alone in Germany.
Ultramarine pigment at ktCOLOR
The startling brilliance of ultramarine in the shadows
At ktCOLOR, we produce a series of sky blues and a pale, cool white from lapis lazuli. A whole series of wall paints contain betzween 2% and 48% of the deepest synthetic ultramarine pigment available. For us, ultramarine is a substance, a cultural asset, and a commitment.
Other manufacturers are not committed to the pigments. There are several paint colors called both lapis lazuli and ultramarine on the markte that have nothing to do with either pigment. Designer's Guild has a "lapis lazuli" color that is as devoid of the stone as the German standard RAL 5002 "ultramarinblau" is of the synthetic blue pigment the artists love. We ask about the naming policy and find out that ultramarine is an abstraction, not a substance. In fact, in most cases the RAL color is made with the petrochemical pigment pthalocyanine blue - the blue printng ink. This pigment has nothing whatsoever to do with the sulfur radicals that create our magical blue!

Visible Differences

You can easily tell whether a blue color is made of ultramarine by looking at authentic color samples. If the color does not look distant and almost floating, but less luminous, heavier, and flat, then it is not ultramarine. Create a shadow on the colored area. If it is dar and heavy, the color is not ultramarine. Only if the colour is even bluer in the shadow than in the light, and if it light and intangible, then the precious pigment is in the recipe. Blue paints that are machine-mixed in specialist shops never contain any lapis lazuli or ultramarine blue, but only the petrochemical substance. It will never result in a resoundingly deep, freely floating, sky blue color.

Real ultramarine has blue shadows. Fakes have gray shadows.
Museumsinsel Ubahn Station Berlin

Can a color be protected? Our experiences with the Yves Klein Foundation

Any essay on ultramarine would be incomplete without Yves Klein's blue. However, the Yves Klein Foundation took offence at our mention of the artist in connection with our blue after the new "Museum Island" subway station in Berlin had such a high presence in the media. The architect quotes Yves Klein as his inspiration for the design. We worked very hard to make the stunningly blue, water-based paint to match his expectations and referenced it the artist that inspired us to create the formulation. They argue that we misappropriate the name of the artist to commercialize our paint.

We at ktCOLOR experience the misappropriation of our intellectual property constantly. It is a topic frought with uncertainty, a lack of controls, and a simple lack of knowledge. We accepted the Foundation's objections and removed any references from social media, blogs and our color stories. But in fact, you can no more protect a color than you can a paella or a bread recipe. Yves Klein did not invent the color - it is on the color cards in every color manual for painters starting about 1840. Klein had not patented his colour, but a process for the production of art. This is often misquoted in the literature, just as it is often said that Klein used natural ultramarine (lapis lazuli) in his artwork. Both statements are incorrect. Neither colors nor color collections can be protected as intellectual property, only color names and company logos.

Make your own Ultramarine

Our ultramarine blue recipe was commissioned by André Heller. After countless trials with a water-soluble binder with excellent pigment pick-up, we had developed a formulation that was deeper than any other, solvent-free, and completely matt. You can marvel at it in the starry night sky of the Museum Island underground station by Max Dudler Architects in Berlin. Or you can make it yourself. All you need is a mortar, water, a paintbrush, Elmer's glue and pigment. The color is non-toxic and the recipe always works.
Ultramarin in Pigmentgläsern

Receipt for Ultramarine

3 tsp Ultramarine pigment

2 tsp water

1 tsp Elmer's glue

Order sample card

Mix the ultramarine with the water to form a smooth paste. Rub until no lumps are visible. Mix in the white glue and stir until smooth. Check the brushability - if the color is thin and watery, add more pigment. If it is thick, add as little water as necessary. You can of course order the finished color from us for larger tests or for entire walls. One bottle of deep matt emulsion 250 ml is sufficient for approx. 1 m2 of wall surface or for a large canvas.

Whether home-made or by ktCOLOR, your blue will delight you every day, and it connects you to the most famous blue in the history of art and culture.

Katrin Trautwein

Translated from the German text Sept. 12, 2024

Credits and copyrights

1. Foto Lapislazuli: CC BY 2.0. File: Lapis lazuli (lazuritic metamorphite) (Sar- e-Sang Deposit, Sakhi Formation, Precambrian, 2.4-2.7 Ga (?); Sar-e-Sang Mining District, Hindu-Kush Mountains, Afghanistan) 4 (33761908008).jpg

2. Fotos Ultramarinblau: Beka Bitterli, 2023; Philipp Haas, 2016

3. Fotos U-Bahn Station Museumsinsel, und Sella Showroom, Berlin: Beka Bitterli, 2023

4. Farbmuster und Rohstoffe: ktCOLOR die Farbmanufaktur