“It’s not Easy being Green”

When we think of the color green, it can remind us of a wide variety of things: nature, health, luck, money, envy, and poison, just to name a few. Color psychologists consider green a very calming color, it’s proven to make people feel more at ease in new spaces, so it’s often seen in the interior design of hotels and restaurants. Some believe that this is due to evolution—ancient humans knew that greenery meant that they were near food and water.

The color green is used a great deal in pop culture. It’s a color often associated with outcasts: Shrek, Oscar the Grouch, and the Wicked Witch of the West to name a few; and famously used to symbolize desire in The Great Gatsby.

It took centuries for artists to create the perfect green pigment. The ancient Egyptians used the copper mineral malachite, but it was difficult to paint with and turned black over time. The Romans made green by soaking copper plates in wine to create verdigris, the green pigment seen on weathered metal (it’s what makes the Statue of Liberty green); this technique was used through the Medieval period. Green pigments made from metals and plants tended to be very light, and would sometimes fade overtime.

In the 1700s, things took a dangerous turn when a new chemical pigment called Scheele’s Green hit the market. Due to its vibrance, Scheele’s Green quickly surpassed natural green pigments in popularity. However, it was quickly discovered that Scheele’s Green was incredibly toxic, some historians believe that Napoleon Bonaparte died from exposure to Scheele’s Green, due to the green wallpaper in his bedroom. By the 19th century, Scheele’s Green was phased out and replaced by Paris Green, which was very popular among the Impressionists and still incredibly toxic—it’s believed to be the reason that Claude Monet went blind. While Paris Green was banned in the 1960s, the green pigments we use today still contain some mildly toxic elements, but as they say, “it’s not easy being green.”