The pink, from the Latin " rosa" , takes its name from the eponymous flower. We are not going to speak here about botany but about color.
Mono antique gold and pink stone earring
First of all, pink is nowadays seen as the prerogative of the feminine. With a certain number of clichés in its seraglio: color of childhood, of tenderness, of mawkishness... It is perhaps partly for this reason that pink seems to be like good wine: it is appreciated with time. Thus, 29% of Men and 25% of Women under twenty-five years old cite pink as the color they like least, against 7 and 8% for the over fifty years old. Time, perhaps, to question stereotypes?
Marquise ring in pink gold with Perpignan garnets
According to its status as a "half-color", to use Michel Pastoureau's phrase, pink did not really have a say until the 18th century. Considered as a compromise between the white and the redIt is called "incarnat" when it comes to labeling the flesh or "aurora" to illustrate a tinted sky. The milliner Beaulard is also credited with the creation in 1775 of a specific shade called "Cuisse de nymphe émue", an orange powdered pink very fashionable in the late eighteenth century. We are fans of this name, as colorful as it is romantic!
Illustration of the shade "Emotional nymph's thigh".
But before arriving in the country of Barbara Cartland and her famous rosewater novels, the color was for a long time the attribute of the male.
Manly pink
Jacob Bunel (attributed to), Portrait of Henri IV in March, 1605-1606, Pau, Musée national et domaine du château de Pau.
This portrait of Henry IV is quite surprising for generation Y! The king is posed here as a victor (crowned with laurels, he crushes the armor of his opponents with his left foot while holding a commanding staff in his right hand). The choice of pink is obviously not fortuitous: it comes to deprive a red of its warlike character, in order to send back the image of a just and benevolent monarch. Because until the eighteenth century, the pink is subordinate to the red: we consider in fact the color as a faded red. And the red being the attribute of the male... the pink is also!
Antique silver cross with enamel and Rhine stones
Besides, heritage of the Marian blue (that is to say characteristic of the Virgin Mary), the blue is reserved to the girls. If you want to know more about the color, discover our dedicated article entitled the blue hour.
But let's go back to the 19th century to join our favorite Englishwoman, the Queen Victoria. The portraits of her children show a connoted use of color: Winterhalter represents in 1846 the princess Helena dressed in blue, while he painted in 1850 the prince Arthur dressed in white and pink ribbons.
Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Queen Victoria with Prince Arthur [Detail], 1850, Private collection.
Rose Pompadour
In France, a century earlier, it was another of our muses who initiated the fashion of pink and light blue : the marquise de Pompadour. Not content with being at the origin of the daisy and marquise rings, the favorite of King Louis XV put pastel tones in fashion.
There is also a color to his name, the "pink Pompadour" developed by the Manufacture of porcelain Sèvres in the 1750s.
Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, Pot-pourri à vaisseau, 1757-58, New York, Metropolitan Museum.
If at this time the pink is not yet confined to one sex, it is adorned with a frivolous dimension. Indeed, as Hayley Edwards-Dujardin summarizes perfectly in the book Rose: from Botticelli to Christo: "Futility is only for those who are not pushed by the material contingencies. That is to say, one can afford to dress in light-colored clothes when there is no need to get one's hands dirty in the daily chores. The pink is in fact associated with the frills and the lightness of the rococo.
And while we're on the subject of jewelry, let's take a look at the pink stones commonly used in jewelry: apatite, pink diamond, fluorite, kunzite, morganite, pink opal, pink quartz, rhodochrosite, rhodonite, sapphire rose, spinel, topaz, tourmaline (rubellite), as well as some varieties of pearls. In addition, shades of pink can sometimes be seen in garnets rhodolite and ruby.
Finally, how can we not mention rose gold, composed of 75% pure gold, 20% copper and 5% silver. It is the copper that gives gold its delicate pink color. To know everything about precious and non-precious metalsgold, go to our journal !
Men will then abandon their colorful costumes in favor of dark shades, in order to differentiate themselves from the female gender. Leaving to women, not without misogyny, the monopoly of pink and its symbolism of futility.
Unfortunately, we are not sure that this sexist time is entirely over: think for example of the pink tax, a gendered marketing technique consisting in selling more expensive products intended for women (such as razors).
François Boucher, The Marquise de Pompadour [at her toilette], 1750, Cambridge, Harvard Art Museums
Eros
It is thus in the XVIIIth century, through the prism of romanticism, that pink acquires its current symbolism: that of tenderness, softness, delicacy with also its negative side; affectation, versatility, lack of lucidity, falseness.
When we say rose we think of candy, sweet pleasure... a bit like our ring Belle Epoque below. Doesn't it have a real gourmet side?
Target ring diamonds and rubies
Anagram of eros, the Greek God of love whose Roman equivalent is Cupid, pink can also rise to the cheeks. Who doesn't know the sultry pink phone? Or the pink square, intended to inform the viewer about the naughtiness of a film (🎵 I'm talking about a time that people under twenty years old can not know!).
In general, the pink associated with black refers to eroticism, with a little licentious boudoir side inherited from the eighteenth century.
For example, the visual identity of the lingerie brand Chantal Thomass or more recently the graphic charter of the dating site "Adopte un mec"). As for the male, we don't have the competence, but don't hesitate to adopt our lucky Buddha made of rose quartz.
Finally, if you are interested in fashion you probably know the "Rose Shocking" which owes its name to the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, composed of magenta and a touch of white. The designer fell in love with this bright fuchsia in 1936 and spread it in her collections. She said about it: "I gave pink the boldness of the red. ".
Red, pink, red... the circle is complete!
" Shocking pink, Schiaparelli " via © Pinterest
Finally, do you know what the "pink book" is, named after our article? It's the birth announcement section of a daily or weekly newspaper. A nod to Camille, the founder of Galerie Pénélope, who will soon see life in pink! 🍼
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