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Pigment Jars

The Most Extravagant Colors in the World, Preserved in one Place

Inspire

Did you know that colors, or rather, the pigments that give them life, are treasured as exquisite rarities?

Color is one of the most intriguing ingredients of reality. Its nature is in essence paradoxical. On one hand, it evidently permeates existence as one of the most striking qualities of matter. On the other hand, it is completely relative and there are even those who condemn it to nonexistence. In fact, strictly speaking, color is a property of light and not of matter.

Taking the above into account, one could consider color a rare jewel of perceptible reality, on the premise that it intensifies to the extent that we are plunged into the most eccentric regions of the color palette.

Pigment Collection

Within Harvard University, a place called the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies houses a grand collection of pigments, including many of the world’s most extravagant colors. This radiant archive was created from the Forbes Collection of Pigments, collected over three decades by one Edward Forbes who was considered a pioneer in developing the protocols for the conservation of artistic works. The collection has since been added to with pigments not yet in existence during Forbes’ time and crowning, primarily, the iridescent range of colors.

Blue PigmentYellow Pigment

 

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