RED: The History of a Color

Michel Pastoureau

Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA

Year 2017

Pages 217

This is a beautifully illustrated visual and cultural history of the color red throughout the ages. The color red has represented many things, from the life force and the divine to love, lust, and anger. Up through the Middle Ages, red held a place of privilege in the Western world. For many cultures, red was not just one color of many but rather the only color worthy enough to be used for social purposes. In some languages, the word for red was the same as the word for color. The first color developed for painting and dying, red became associated in antiquity with war, wealth, and power. In this beautifully illustrated book, the author masterfully navigates centuries of symbolism and complex meanings to present the fascinating and sometimes controversial history of the color red.