phthalo blue

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Phthalo blue

This page presents the Spectroscopic analysis of this pigment.
The pigment has been examined using XRF spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and Reflectance Spectroscopy. These complementary techniques provide valuable insights into the pigment’s composition and structure.
This page aims to show which analytical methods are most effective for identifying this pigment in artworks and historical materials. By comparing results across different techniques, it serves as a practical reference for Heritage Science, Conservation, and Pigment Analysis.

First developed as a pigment in the 1930s it has an extremely powerful tint strength. Very stable, it is used in art conservation.

Manufacturer / product code: Kremer / 23050
Chemical description: copper phthalocyanine. Kremer PDF
Color: blue
Color Index: PB15

The discovery of Phthalocyanine Blue (often simply “Phthalo Blue”) in the late 1920s, and its subsequent introduction to the artist market around 1935 under trade names like Monastral Blue and Winsor Blue, was hailed as one of the most significant advancements in pigments since the invention of synthetic Ultramarine.
Historically, artists relied on scarce and costly pigments like natural Ultramarine (made from lapis lazuli) or chemically complex alternatives like Prussian Blue (discovered in the early 1700s). Phthalo Blue, a synthetic organic pigment based on copper phthalocyanine, immediately offered an unparalleled combination of desirable qualities: high tinting strength, excellent lightfastness, superior chemical stability, and a competitive, low cost. It is typically a transparent, intense blue with a cool, greenish undertone, though a warmer, red-shade variant also exists.

Its arrival marked a turning point, providing artists with an affordable, permanent, and intensely vibrant blue that was previously unimaginable. Because of its intense depth and powerful tinting ability, Phthalo Blue has become a staple of the modern artist’s palette, highly favored in contemporary painting for its capacity to create brilliant skies, luminous seascapes, and wide range of clean, vibrant color mixtures. It has been embraced by artists from the mid-20th century onwards, providing a new freedom and intensity to the blue spectrum in art.

Raman Spectroscopy 532 nm – ElviRa Spectrometer for Art

Raman Spectroscopy 532 nm (ElviRa spectrometer) Pigments-Checker Database (74035 downloads )

Raman spectroscopy 785 nm

Pigments (powder, no binder)

Raman Spectroscopy 785 nm Pigments (pure, no binder) (76680 downloads )

Pigments with acrylic binder (Pigments Checker)

Raman Spectroscopy 785 nm Pigments-Checker Database (77608 downloads )

Pure pigments (no binder, just powder)

DOWNLOAD Free Raman Database

DOWNLOAD paper: “Pigments Checker version 3.0, a handy set for conservation scientists: A free online Raman spectra database”

Phtalo blue 23050 Raman Spectroscopy Pigments Checker

Raman spectroscopy 830 nm

Pigments (powder, no binder)

Raman Spectroscopy 830 nm Pigments-Checker Database (62614 downloads )

Raman spectroscopy 1064 nm

Pigments (powder, no binder)

Raman Spectroscopy 1064 nm Pigments-Checker Database (57705 downloads )

XRF spectroscopy

XRF Spectroscopy Pigments-Checker Database (88894 downloads )

DOWNLOAD previous database from Pigments Checker V.3 DOWNLOAD paper: R. Larsen, N. Coluzzi, A. Cosentino “Free XRF Spectroscopy database of Pigments Checker” Intl Journal of Conservation Science.