Cobalt blue

Historical uses and production

In human culture

• Cobalt blue was the primary blue pigment used for centuries in Chinese blue and white porcelain, beginning in the late eighth or early ninth century.
• Watercolorist John Varley suggested cobalt blue as a good substitution for ultramarine for painting skies, writing in his "List of Colours" from 1818: "Used as a substitute for ultramarine in its brightness of colour, and superior when used in skies and other objects, which require even tints; used occasionally in retrieving the brightness of those tints when too heavy, and for tints in drapery, etc. Capable, by its superior brilliancy and contrast, to subdue the brightness of other blues."
• Cobalt blue has been used in paintings since its discovery by Thénard, by painters such as J. M. W. Turner, Impressionists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet, and Post-Impressionists such as Vincent van Gogh. It is stable and lightfast and also compatible with all other pigments.
• Maxfield Parrish, famous partly for the intensity of his skyscapes, used cobalt blue, and as a result, cobalt blue sometimes is called Parrish blue.

• Several car manufacturers including Jeep and Bugatti have cobalt blue as paint options.

• Because of its chemical stability in the presence of alkali, cobalt blue is used as a pigment in blue concrete.

• Two Major League Soccer teams have cobalt blue as a secondary color: Real Salt Lake from its inception, and Sporting Kansas City on its home uniforms since 2008.

• Several countries including the Netherlands and Romania, and a U.S. state – Nevada – have cobalt blue as one of three shades of their flags.

• Sega's official logo color is cobalt blue. Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega's current mascot, was colored to match.

  Toxicity