The chemistry’s new in black and blue

Paint it black In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent van Gogh posited that although black may be considered a primary color along with yellow, red, and blue, it does not occur purely in nature. Conceding that it mixes with the traditional triad in a wide range of grays, Vincent regarded black as a kind of ideal rather than a real thing. Van Gogh’s view is debatable, the element carbon being a fundamental source of black pigment. But a lot of work needs to be done to get from elemental carbon to a useful color. Artists going back to the days of cave paintings produced black paint through various processes, such as burning animal bones to arrive at pigments comparable to the bone or ivory black that we purchase from art supply stores today. But there is always room for new materials and science, and it may have been