A rough chronology, from some of the earliest pigments used by humans through to 20th-century synthetic colours. Ordered by the period each entry’s own sourcing describes — not every entry has a precise date, and sources sometimes disagree on exact origins.
One of the oldest pigments used by humans, found in prehistoric cave paintings.
A calcium copper silicate pigment used in ancient Egypt from around 2500 BCE, widely cited as the earliest known synthetic pigment.
Historically used in East Asian lacquerware and seal ink, and by the Romans as a prized (and toxic) pigment.
One of the earliest earth pigments used in painting, alongside ochre and sienna.
Produced in antiquity from the mucus of Murex sea snails; thousands of snails were needed for a small amount of dye, making it enormously expensive and a marker of status in the ancient Mediterranean.
One of the oldest known dyes, historically produced from the indigo plant and used to colour denim.
A lead-antimony pigment used since antiquity, among the oldest synthetic pigments still recognised by name today.
Historically produced from crushed cochineal insects, a dye and pigment source traded across the Americas and Europe from the 16th century onward.
Historically made by grinding lapis lazuli, imported at great expense into medieval and Renaissance Europe — among the costliest pigments available, often reserved for the most important passages of a painting.
A traditional artists' pigment made by heating raw sienna to shift it redder.
A watercolour mixing staple credited to 18th-century artist William Payne, used as a softer alternative to black.
Widely credited as the first modern synthetic pigment, first produced in Berlin around 1706.
Originally produced from the ink sac of cuttlefish, used historically as a writing and drawing ink, and later associated with early photographic toning.
Originally extracted from the madder plant; a synthetic version became one of the first synthetic dyes derived from coal tar in the 1860s.
A cadmium-based pigment developed in the early 20th century, valued by painters for its strong, opaque colour.
Developed by artist Yves Klein in 1960 and used across a body of monochrome artworks.