
Three Colors: Blue - signor_bosco
https://philipball.blogspot.com/2020/04/three-colours-blue.html
======
tialaramex
The name is a reference to the (extremely good) Three Colors trilogy of movies
by Krzysztof Kieślowski. Each movie stands on its own but they also work
together and reference each other very slightly. They aren't monochrome but
the title colour of each movie is certainly dominant in its palette.

If you squint you can relate them to the French Flag and the French ideals of
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite... But you do have to squint, Kieślowski made
only a thin pretense of doing what the people paying for the art wanted, and
since he was a genius they seem to have made only a thin pretense of demanding
he do so.

~~~
grab-a-byte
Not only was he a genius, but also an extremely hard-working person,
oftentimes spending nights in the editing room after hours of exhaustive work
on the set. Kieslowski's attention to detail was remarkable - see an analysis
of a scene from the movie "Blue", narrated by the director himself:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-k6sIN-2K4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-k6sIN-2K4)

He attracted top talent to his productions, including actors, cinematographers
(Slawomir Idziak, whom I had a pleasure to spend many hours with), and
composers (Zbigniew Preisner). Although most of his work was created in the
times of USSR and communism in Poland, he continued to push the boundaries of
filmmaking with the limited resources he had access to.

------
Mulpze15
If you have never seen Klein's blue in real life, just know it looks very
different from the rendering you see on the website.

~~~
mtts
Correct. If anyone's wondering why: Klein's blue has a somewhat powdery
surface that disperses the color in all directions. As a result it's more
intense than it would be if the surface were smooth.

I believe this is the same trick behind vantablack.

------
docandrew
The article mentions a mine in Afghanistan as a source of the best Lapis
Lazuli, but I believe in ancient Egypt (and probably the Classical era), it
was the _only_ source.

There are some really interesting documentaries about the mine, and what
impresses me most is just how remote and dangerous the trek is. Mining there
4000-5000 years ago with primitive tools, and the journey required to get the
Lapis from Afghanistan all the way to Egypt is really very remarkable. It's a
difficult journey today even with Range Rovers.

Related to the OP, but not Lapis mining: an interesting related discovery
(2009): [https://chemistry.oregonstate.edu/content/story-yinmn-
blue](https://chemistry.oregonstate.edu/content/story-yinmn-blue)

------
exmadscientist
Occasionally I fantasize about painting the front door to my house in
International Klein Blue. The binder of true IKB seems to be a polyvinyl
acetate, so I wonder how well it would hold up for a semi-enclosed exterior
application. Anyone have any idea?

(The next question, of course, would then be sourcing that quantity of
paint....)

~~~
bargle0
Only $100/liter:

[https://ressource-peintures.com/en/collections/yves-
klein/](https://ressource-peintures.com/en/collections/yves-klein/)

------
Daub
For everyone’s delight, the best website on the history of pigments:
[http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/history.html](http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/history.html)

------
foobarbecue
See also Ad Reinhard's blue paintings, which are combinations of very subtly
different blues. I like them a lot and recently learned about them in Edward
Tufte's excellent book Visual Explanations.
[https://www.google.com/search?q=ad+reinhardt+blue&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=ad+reinhardt+blue&tbm=isch)

