Yellow Around The World

I associate yellow with warmth, sunshine and summer. In fact, my favorite summer flowers are yellow - coreopsis, Stella D'Oro daylilies, black-eyed susans.... With it being deep summer now in the Northeast, it seems only right to offer you yellow inspiration. So, continuing with our series about Color Around The World, here is Yellow Around The World, courtesy of Ann Hurley, Woman of Wear-Dated and Ultron carpet fiber color expert, who lives and breathes color and product trends.

Ann says...

During various periods in history and in different cultures, the color yellow [and gold] has been associated with wealth, power and intellect.

In Egyptian art, yellow and gold related to the sun and have the connotation of something eternal and indestructible. The skin and bones of Egyptian gods were believed to be made of gold, thus their statues were often made of, or plated with gold.

In Hindu mythology yellow is considered to have the power to influence the intellect.

In early China, only the emperor and royalty were allowed to wear yellow. It ensured good luck and indicated power.

During the French Empire period when the luminosity of gold became such an important part of decoration, the color yellow lost its sometimes negative connotation to become associated with grandeur.

In Greek mythology yellow was associated with the yellow haired Helios – the sun god. He emerged from the waves wrapped in a yellow robe and was related to wisdom.

Did you know:

The yellow we see in an egg yolk is a natural pigment called xanthophyll [pronounced zanthofill]. Many artists used an egg yolk wash mixed with pigment, commonly called tempera.

Andrew Wyeth was one such artist who used this egg yolk wash, seen here is his painting, Christina’s World.

Question: Pencils are traditionally painted yellow – why?

Answer: the “lead” in pencils was made from graphite and the best quality graphite was found in China. The color yellow was associated with China and, therefore, pencils containing Chinese graphite were painted yellow.

For previous posts in this series, see:
+ Green Around The World
+ Red Around The World
+ White Around The World
+ Blue Around The World


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