Buzz
You might assume that every color is within your reach. However, certain hues are incredibly difficult to access. Whether it's due to toxicity, being outdated, illegal, or protected by copyright, some colors are simply off-limits.
10. Mummy Brown
In the 16th century, a unique brown shade called 'Mummy Brown' began appearing in European art. While it might sound like a quirky name, this paint was actually made from real, crushed ancient Egyptian mummies. During the 19th century, as 'Egyptomania' took over Europe and the United States, people used mummies for decor, medicine, paper, and even in parties where people unrolled mummies. The exact process of making this color varied, and it's nearly impossible to tell if a painting used it by modern analysis, but all versions contained actual mummy remains.
However, many didn't even know the true origins of the paint. When the artist Edward Burne-Jones discovered the real source of the material he'd been using, he held a spontaneous funeral for the mummy in his yard. But like ancient Egypt itself, the era of this color had to fade away. In 1964, the creator of mummy brown paint admitted that they had run out of mummies, remarking, 'We might have a few odd limbs lying around somewhere but not enough to make any more paint.' If you wish to recreate the shade today, sourcing the materials will be quite a challenge.
9. Vantablack
Vantablack is one of the darkest shades ever created. Developed by the British company Surrey NanoSystems in the early 2000s, it absorbs 99.965% of visible light. It held the title of the darkest man-made substance in the Guinness World Records until 2015, when a less catchy material called 'dark chameleon dimers' took its place. Vantablack has been used to block light from telescopes and infrared cameras and could even be employed for solar energy collection. There are also potential military uses, such as highly effective camouflage.
However, if you want to use Vantablack for your own artistic projects or to paint your bedroom, you’re likely out of luck—unless your name is Anish Kapoor. He holds exclusive rights to use the pigment in art. Kapoor, known for his famous 'Cloud Gate' sculpture in Chicago, has faced harsh criticism for monopolizing an entire color. In response, fellow artist Stuart Semple created a series of other colors, including 'Pinkest Pink', 'Black 2.0', 'Black 3.0', and 'Diamond Dust', all of which anyone in the world can use—except Anish Kapoor. Additionally, Massachusetts-based NanoLab developed a similar shade called Singularity Black, which is available to the public. So, if you truly want the darkest of dark, you can contact them.
8. Tyrian Purple
The rich royal purple has been a symbol of royalty for centuries, a connection that endures to this day. During the Roman Empire, wearing purple as a commoner was punishable by death. Queen Elizabeth I prohibited anyone but her family from wearing this color, as part of the Sumptuary Laws that regulated what each social class could wear. This reddish-purple was even said to resemble dried blood, further linking the color to the idea of a divine lineage for the royals. It gained popularity among the elites in Egypt, Persia, and Rome and remained a coveted hue until the mid-1500s.
The rarity of purple dye stemmed from the immense difficulty and cost involved in producing it. The Phoenician city of Tyre was the primary producer of this prized dye, known as Tyrian purple, royal purple, or Imperial purple. Extracting the pigment required collecting, cracking open, and exposing hundreds of thousands of sea snails to sunlight—an ordeal that created an unbearable stench. It took up to 250,000 snails to make just one ounce of dye, making it far too expensive for most. Moreover, these snails were only found in the Mediterranean. Garments dyed with this hue were famously resistant to fading and were literally valued as gold. In 1856, a young chemist named William Henry Perkin accidentally discovered a much cheaper purple dye while working on an anti-malaria treatment. This new dye, named 'mauve', revolutionized purple’s availability to the masses.
7. Vermillion
Vermillion, also called cinnabar or China red, is a pigment you definitely don’t want to mix at home. It gets its distinctive red-orange color from mercury, and the finer the mercury particles, the brighter the vermillion. This pigment has been in use for nearly 8,000 years, dating back to the Ancient Romans who retrieved it from Spain and used it in both cosmetics and art. It was also used to illuminate medieval manuscripts. Prisoners and slaves were assigned the dangerous task of mining cinnabar in Spain’s Almadén mines, where it was then heated and crushed to produce pigment. Vermillion was also used in Renaissance painting and in China, where it earned its alternative name. In China, it was combined with tree sap for use in temples, ink, and pottery.
While the Ancient Chinese successfully created synthetic cinnabar, it remained toxic. By the 20th century, artists turned to Cadmium red as a safer alternative, as it was less harmful and did not fade into a reddish-brown as vermillion did. Today, the bright red-orange hue still holds a special place in traditional Chinese culture, symbolizing luck and happiness.
6. Scheele’s Green
In the early 1800s, a new dye made a splash among Victorian high society. German chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele introduced a shade of green so striking that it became a must-have for women attending social gatherings across Western Europe. Thanks to the advent of gas lamps, which illuminated evening events, this vibrant emerald hue was the perfect way for modern women to make a statement. Scheele's green quickly became popular across Britain, appearing on dresses, wallpaper, carpets, and even artificial plants.
However, this bright new color came with a deadly secret. Scheele's green was made with copper arsenite, which contained the toxic element arsenic. Women who wore it developed blisters, and families found themselves vomiting in their green-decorated rooms. The factory workers who used the dye regularly suffered organ failure. One artificial flower maker, Matilda Scheurer, met a particularly gruesome end, vomiting green fluid, her eyes turning green, and stating that everything she saw appeared green. Although arsenic was known to be fatal if ingested, the excitement around Scheele’s green led many to believe it could also kill through other forms of exposure. Despite early warnings from doctors and the media, people continued to wear and decorate with the dye in the name of fashion until 1895.
5. Lead White
Dating back to the 4th century B.C., ancient civilizations such as the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians used this dense white pigment for cosmetics, medicine, and art. Historical figures like Pliny and Vestruvious even mentioned it in their writings. The method to make it was relatively simple: soak lead metal in vinegar and scrape off the resulting white powder. Unfortunately, many of those who worked with it developed 'Painter's Colic,' now known as lead poisoning.
The thick texture and quick drying time of lead white made it a favored choice for European artists. However, lead can enter the body through inhalation, ingestion, or absorption, leading to severe and long-term damage to the brain and kidneys. Despite the dangers of using this pigment being well-known, artists struggled to find a suitable substitute for its creamy, warm tones, and it remained in use until it was officially banned in the 1970s.
4. Uranium Orange
In 1936, Fiestaware, a ceramics company, introduced a striking new range of dinnerware featuring a bold orange-red hue known as 'Fiesta Red.' This color was derived from uranium oxide, a radioactive substance. From 1943 to 1959, the production of these vibrant dishes halted as uranium was restricted to military use during World War II. When production resumed, a slightly less radioactive version, depleted uranium, was used instead.
Many dinnerware pieces from this era incorporated radioactive materials, and the EPA cautions that they can emit alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. Fiesta Red dishes were made until 1972, when the line was discontinued, but they remain highly sought after by collectors today. However, it's advisable not to use them for eating, particularly with acidic foods. Fiestaware continues to produce dinnerware, though the colors no longer include uranium or lead in their glazes, so the hues are not the same as the original Fiesta Red.
3. Gamboge Yellow
In the 1600s, the British East India Company introduced a vivid yellow pigment from Asia called Gamboge. The name was derived from the country of Cambodia, once referred to as 'Camoboja,' which came from the Latin 'gambogium,' meaning pigment. This pigment was extracted as sap from bamboo-like trees that were at least a decade old, then processed into fine powder or hardened into rocks that could be wetted for painting. While the sap itself was poisonous, this wasn’t the sole reason Gamboge eventually fell out of favor. Though it was used in traditional Chinese painting, the color would fade rapidly, making it difficult to recognize in modern times.
In the mid-1800s in England, a snake oil salesman named James Morrison introduced 'Morrison’s vegetable pills,' which contained gamboge and acted as a potent diuretic and laxative. However, doctors soon discovered that gamboge could irritate the skin and be fatal in even small doses. In the 1980s, an employee from the Winsor & Newton paint company found a bullet inside a piece of gamboge, leading to the revelation that the pigment had been harvested from the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge. By 2005, Winsor & Newton stopped using gamboge and replaced it with a non-toxic variant called 'New Gamboge.'
2. Red-Green and Blue-Yellow
These color combinations are neither banned nor made from dangerous substances. The problem lies in the fact that they are nearly impossible to perceive simultaneously. In the human eye, red and green, as well as blue and yellow, cancel each other out. The retina processes incoming light, triggering specific neurons to allow the brain to recognize colors. However, these color pairs interfere with each other in the brain, preventing them from being seen together.
The mystery was solved in 1983, when scientists Hewitt Crane and Thomas Piantanida conducted an experiment. Volunteers were shown adjacent stripes of yellow/blue or red/green, and each eye focused on a single color using an eye tracker. This tricked their eyes into blending the colors, creating a new hue. Participants struggled to describe what they saw because no existing words could capture the color. A follow-up study in 2006 by Dartmouth University and scientist Po-Jang Hsieh asked participants to use a color mapper to identify the impossible colors. Some selected a brownish color, often referred to as 'mud,' to describe the red-green combination.
1. Radium Green
In 1908, a revolutionary new paint hit the market. It glowed a vibrant green in the dark, making it ideal for watches and compasses that could now be used at night. Radium, which had started appearing in the late 1800s to early 1900s, was found in products like drinks, candy, lotions, soaps, and even swimming pools, all marketed as promoting a healthy, glowing life. The watches, initially designed for military use during World War I, became popular with civilians in the post-war era.
A group of young women, later known as 'the Radium Girls,' worked in factories painting watch dials with this glowing substance. The job was seen as artistic, and the workers often licked their brushes to get a fine point or even dusted the glow-in-the-dark paint on their faces to sparkle at parties. In the 1920s, many began showing symptoms of radiation poisoning: sores, rotting teeth and jaws, and several women died before the true cause was understood. In 1928, Grace Fryer led a lawsuit against the New Jersey factory, bringing media attention to the issue, and the workers won. The survivors later participated in studies during the 1950s, which significantly expanded the U.S.'s understanding of radium’s effects on the body. Radium paint for watches was officially discontinued in 1968, and today, glow-in-the-dark products are usually made with photoluminescent materials, which are non-toxic.
