Classic Blue, PANTONE Colour of the Year 2020, in Art

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“Blue has no dimensions; it is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colours are not... All colours arouse specific associative ideas... while blue suggests at most the sea and sky, and they, after all, are in actual, visible nature what is most abstract.” Yves Klein

For the colour of the year 2020, PANTONE has chosen 19-4052, Classic Blue. A ‘timeless and enduring blue hue’, that according to Pantone instills "calm confidence and connection”.

Classic Blue is a soothing colour that makes us think of vast oceans, open spaces and the night sky at dusk. Blue dusk giving way to cool moonlight and time to reflect upon the day that passed.

Blue is one of the primary colours of pigments in painting and traditional colour theory. Blue has been an important colour in art since ancient times. Before the invention of synthetic version, Blue pigment used to be rare and very expensive, used only for the very finest of paintings.

As artists, we find ourselves returning to blue again and again and it is definitely one of our favourite colours. In fact, blue has long been considered the world's most popular colour. Maybe not surprising as it is the colour of the sky and the sea. Blue hues can feel free, uplifting and sometimes even warming. But they can also convey a more melancholic tone, inviting reflection and contemplation.

“The colour blue - that is my colour - and the colour blue means you have left the drabness of day-to-day reality to be transported into - not a world of fantasy, it's not a world of fantasy - but a world of freedom where you can say what you like and what you don't like. This has been expressed forever by the colour blue, which is really sky blue.” Louise Bourgeois