Storied Colors

The Color Index An ongoing index, est. 2026

One color a day, told as it ought to be told: with its provenance, its chemistry, and the people who paid for it in poison.

This Week’s Specimens Curator’s notes · 22nd to 28th June

From the desk of the curator

No. 099 1960

International Klein
Blue

Synthetic · Cool · Saturated

Yves Klein's hyper-saturated ultramarine in a special resin binder, registered in 1960 as the literal embodiment of pure colour.

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Plate 103

No. 103 c. 1600

Isabelline

Digital · Warm · Mid

A grubby off-white named, perhaps apocryphally, for Archduchess Isabella's vow not to change her chemise until Ostend fell - a siege that lasted three years.

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Plate 106

No. 106 c. 300 BCE

Ivory
Black

Animal · Neutral · Mid

Originally made by charring elephant tusks, now produced from animal bones but still one of the deepest warm blacks on the painter's palette.

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Recent Acquisitions Six newest of 252 entries

The Collection at a Glance Browse all 252 →

096 005 175 184 224 111 154 100 147 153 214 085 040 237 151 044 067 226 131 116 023 058 252 094 016 167 124 234 227 188 187 179 202 038 205 242 233 123 122

+213 more

An occasional letter from the catalogue: new entries, contested attributions, the kind of thing that doesn't fit on a color page. Subscribe to be notified when the first issue ships.

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One color a day, told as it ought to be told: with its provenance, its chemistry, and the people who paid for it in poison.

From the desk of the curator

International Klein Blue

Isabelline

Ivory Black

An occasional letter from the catalogue: new entries, contested attributions, the kind of thing that doesn't fit on a color page. Subscribe to be notified when the first issue ships.

International Klein
Blue

Ivory
Black