For over 20,000 years, humans have been expressing themselves
and capturing the world around them through painting.
Whether on cave walls or canvas,
the human race has always sought to represent their thoughts and feelings through art.
Earth pigments yellow, red, and purple ochres,
sienna, and umber were all readily available.
Yet one element remained tantalizingly out of reach --
blue.
The color of the sky above, the pounding waves,
and the heart of the flickering flame were unobtainable.
That was until a little over a thousand years ago
and the discovery of a precious stone.
Lapis lazuli was mined in the mountain valley
of Kokcha, Afghanistan.
In it lay the secret to unleashing the purest blue
into the world of art.
To transform this hard stone into a pure colorant,
it was grinded; reducing it to a fine blue dust.
This dust was encased in beeswax, pine-resin, and mastic,
then placed in a mixture to remove impurities.
It took weeks of torturous labor,
however, the precious blue essence released was worth every moment
and they named it -- Ultramarine.
When it arrived in Europe from the east in the early 15th century
it would change art dramatically.
No more feeble and pale blues; they would become rich and vibrant.
Because of its rarity and lengthy method of extraction,
natural ultramarine became the most expensive of artists' colorants --
its price, occasionally, even exceeding that of gold.
As a result, artists used it sparingly.
Only the most revered subjects were considered deserving of it --
the robes of Christ and of the Virgin Mary, as well as heaven itself.
Giotto de Bondone used ultramarine
to deliver heaven onto the ceiling of the Scrovegni Chapel in 1305.
In the Renaissance era, Titian Vercelli defied the church
by employing the pigment to simply reflect the joys of life
in his painting, Bacchus and Ariadne.
As a result of its high demand, in 1824,
a 6000-franc reward was offered to anyone who could invent a synthetic version of ultramarine.
French chemist Jean-Baptiste Guimet was first over the line,
naming the new pigment "French ultramarine."
This discovery ensured brilliant blue would never be scarce again,
delivering it in unlimited quantities to artists worldwide.
Take a moment to imagine Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring
or Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night stripped of their defining blues
... would they be remembered now?
And the story doesn't end there.
Artists continue to innovate, creating even more striking and intense colors
such as Yves Klein's Proposte Monocrome, Epoca Blu exhibition in the 1960s.
The journey of artistic discovery is never finished.
How will you make your mark?