Ultramarine blue is a synthetic pigment without any health or environmental hazards. This is the modern, affordable and almost chemically identical version of lapis lazuli, as the pigment PB29 is the same as the lazurite dye in lapis lazuli. Like the original ultramarine, it has a beautiful, bright and persistent hue. Its incomparable depth makes it an indispensable pigment in the art world.

History : Ultramarine blue was previously extracted by grinding lapis lazuli, a fine stone originating from volcanic fusion in Afghanistan. It is found in China, Tibet, but was also found in Egypt in antiquity. In the Middle Ages, it was used for illuminations. In the Renaissance, this pigment was so expensive that artists directly asked their patrons to pay for it! It was replaced by a synthetic pigment in the nineteenth century. At that time, a reward of 6,000 francs was promised to the person who would discover the way to produce ultramarine blue synthetically. It was the industrialist Jean-Baptiste Guimet from Lyon who received the prize in 1828.

Ultramarine differs significantly from, for example, Phthalo Blue (PB15) by being at the warm, reddish end of the blue spectrum. The pigment has a slightly coarse, mineral-like structure, which gives a unique optical vibration when the light hits the painting:

• Sky and atmosphere: The classic color for the depth of a cloudless daytime sky and rich shadow areas in clouds.
• The perfect grey and black tones: Mixed with burnt umber (PBr7) or burnt sienna (PR102), they completely neutralize each other. This creates a range of extremely vivid, velvety grey tones and a deep, chromatic black that has far more life than tube black.
• Beautiful purple shades: Thanks to its reddish undertone, it produces pure, brilliant violet and purple shades when mixed with alkyd or cadmium red.

PB29