Yellow. The History of Color

The French historian Michel Pastureau continues his large-scale project dedicated to the history of color in Western European societies from Ancient Rome to the present day. The publishing house "NLO" has previously released the books "Blue", "Black", "Red", and "Green",... as well as "Devilish Matter. The History of Stripes and Striped Fabrics". The new book is dedicated to the color yellow, which is scarcely present in the everyday life of modern Europe and represented minimally in official symbolism. However, this has not always been the case. People of the past saw it as a sacred color - the color of light, warmth, wealth, and prosperity. The Greeks and Romans allocated a special place for it in religious rituals, while the Celts and Germans associated it with wealth and immortality. The decline of the status of yellow occurred in the Middle Ages. On one hand, it became the color of bitter bile and demonic sulfur - a sign of lies, stinginess, sometimes even illness and madness. At the same time, there is also good yellow: gold, copper, and ripe ears of corn - a sign of power, joy, and abundance. This and other semantic metamorphoses of the color yellow are dedicated to the book.