Green: Tupperware, Gingham and Arsenic
Introduction
Green has appeared throughout my life in clothing, objects and places, although I hadn't previously considered just how many associations I have with it. Some are connected to childhood, while others belong to the homes I've lived in and the people around me.
In 1982, when I was ten, my family travelled around Australia on a working holiday. We spent several months in Tumbarumba, New South Wales, where my father was working on a bridge construction project. During that time, I attended the local primary school, where the uniform was a green-and-white gingham dress with a white collar.
Although I was only there for three or four months, I became friends with a girl named Vanessa. I had a school photograph that included her full name, but years later, when we were living in Perth, our house was broken into and my camera equipment was stolen, along with my collection of school photographs. Unfortunately, that photograph was among them, and I've often wondered whether I might have been able to find Vanessa again but have no idea where to start.
Other childhood associations are more colourful. I had a long green dress patterned with white flowers, and there's a Pixie photograph of me with my brother and sister in which I'm wearing a particularly cool green shirt (below). My bicycle also had an impressive green glitter seat with a sissy bar, something that was very much of its time.
Green continued to feature in my adult life. When my husband and I built our first house, Federation green was incorporated throughout the design, including the gutters, kitchen benchtop and accents in the tiling. My husband also wore dark green trousers on our wedding day, and green remains his favourite colour.
Beyond these personal associations, green has a particularly interesting history. Although we tend to associate it with nature, growth and renewal, it has also represented wealth, envy, danger and misfortune. Some of the most fashionable green pigments were highly toxic, while others proved frustratingly unstable for artists trying to capture the natural world.
The First Green
Despite being abundant in nature, green was surprisingly difficult for early artists to reproduce. Leaves, grasses and forests provided an enormous variety of shades, yet finding pigments that were both vibrant and permanent presented a considerable challenge (Hatch n.d.).
One of the earliest pigments was green earth, also known as terre verte or Verona green. Derived from minerals including celadonite and glauconite, it produced a muted, earthy colour. Renaissance artists such as Giotto used it beneath layers of pink and red to create convincing flesh tones. As some of the upper pigments deteriorated, the green underpainting became visible, leaving certain figures with an unintended greenish complexion (Perryman 2021, 136).
Malachite, a copper-based mineral, offered a richer green. Ancient Egyptians used powdered malachite as both a decorative pigment and an eyeshadow, associating it with the goddess Hathor (Pokorska 2019). However, its effectiveness depended on preparation. Grinding the mineral too finely reduced its intensity, while its performance in oil paint was less satisfactory than in egg tempera or plaster (Perryman 2021, 140).
Verdigris offered something brighter still. Produced by exposing copper to acidic substances, including vinegar, it created a vivid blue-green pigment valued by medieval and Renaissance painters. Unfortunately, it was notoriously unstable, sometimes darkening towards brown or black. Giovanni Bellini's The Agony in the Garden provides another example of changing pigments: Saint James's cloak, which now appears almost black, was originally green (Hatch n.d.).
Green also developed beyond painting. Celadon, a family of green ceramic glazes developed in China and later celebrated in Korea, produced delicate shades ranging from pale grey-green to olive and blue-green. Interestingly, the name celadonmay have originated in seventeenth-century France, inspired by a fictional character associated with pale green clothing (Perryman 2021, 142).
These early pigments and glazes demonstrate how much experimentation was required to reproduce a colour that appeared so readily in nature. By the nineteenth century, chemistry had introduced increasingly brilliant greens, although some contained a particularly dangerous ingredient: arsenic (Mulholland 2013).
Green Becomes Fashionable
The development of synthetic pigments transformed the use of green in fashion and interior decoration. In 1775, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele developed Scheele's Green, a brilliant pigment containing copper and arsenic. Emerald Green followed in the early nineteenth century, becoming particularly fashionable in Victorian Britain. These vivid colours appeared in dresses, artificial flowers, wallpaper and household decorations, despite the dangers associated with their manufacture and use (Perryman 2021, 146).
By the middle of the nineteenth century, doctors and scientists were raising concerns about arsenic in clothing and domestic products. The Victoria and Albert Museum records that poisoning and deaths were attributed to arsenic-containing garments and accessories. Contemporary advice even suggested testing suspicious green fabrics with ammonia to detect the presence of copper associated with these pigments (Mulholland 2013).
One particularly interesting connection involves William Morris, the English designer associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. His botanical wallpapers celebrated leaves, flowers and climbing plants, bringing carefully structured interpretations of nature into domestic interiors. Ironically, some of his early wallpapers contained arsenic-based green pigments. The National Gallery of Victoria holds an example of his Trellis wallpaper, which has been examined for arsenic-containing pigments (National Gallery of Victoria n.d.).
Growing public concern eventually encouraged manufacturers to develop safer alternatives. By the late nineteenth century, companies were advertising wallpapers as arsenic-free, although later conservation research has demonstrated that such claims were not always reliable (Banas 2020; Victoria and Albert Museum n.d.).
Green remained fashionable throughout the twentieth century, particularly as manufacturing introduced a broader range of colours into household products. All shades of green became associated with modern interiors during the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in everything from kitchen appliances, kitchenware and bathroom fittings (Perryman 2021, 158).
Green in Art
Green has presented artists with an interesting challenge. Although it dominates much of the natural landscape, accurately representing its variations has never been straightforward. Changes in light, atmosphere and season can transform the appearance of vegetation, while historical pigments have not always retained their original colours (Hatch n.d.).
Botanical illustration created a particular demand for accurate greens. In the early nineteenth century, English botanical illustrator William Hooker developed a pigment by combining Prussian blue with gamboge, a yellow derived from tree resin. Known as Hooker's Green, it became particularly useful for representing foliage and remains familiar to artists today (Perryman 2021, 144).
Landscape painting also changed considerably during the nineteenth century. The Barbizon painters in France, including Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet, worked directly from nature, exploring atmosphere and the changing effects of light. Their approach helped establish important foundations for Impressionism (Amory 2007).
Claude Monet extended this investigation through paintings of gardens, riverbanks and water lilies. Rather than relying on a single green, he explored the interaction of greens with blues, purples and pinks. In his Water Lilies paintings, vegetation, water and reflections often become difficult to distinguish (Art Institute of Chicago n.d.).
Vincent van Gogh approached green more expressively. In The Night Café (1888), red walls, a green ceiling and yellow lighting create a deliberately unsettling interior. Writing to his brother Theo, Van Gogh explained how he used contrasting colours to communicate the atmosphere of the café, demonstrating that green could contribute to the emotional character of a painting (Van Gogh 1888).
Henri Matisse challenged traditional colour conventions in The Green Stripe (1905) (also known as The Green Line or Madame Matisse). A vertical band of green divides his wife's face, replacing conventional shadow with an unexpected colour. Rather than imitating natural appearances, Matisse used green to establish form and structure (Statens Museum for Kunst n.d.).
Later, abstract artists explored colour independently of recognisable subjects. In works such as Ellsworth Kelly's Green Curve (1996), green becomes the subject itself, with the relationship between colour, shape and surrounding space central to the viewer's experience (Guggenheim Museum n.d.).
Across these approaches, green has served purposes extending far beyond representing vegetation. It has been used to document nature, investigate light, establish atmosphere, communicate emotion and explore colour as an independent visual element.
The Science of Green
Green occupies a distinctive position in human vision, with wavelengths of approximately 495 to 570 nanometres. Our ability to distinguish its many variations depends on three types of cone photoreceptors in the retina, whose overlapping sensitivities allow the visual system to interpret differences in colour (Encyclopaedia Britannica n.d.; National Eye Institute n.d.).
Green also behaves differently depending on how it is produced. In digital displays, it is one of the three primary colours of light, alongside red and blue. Paint operates through a different process, with pigments absorbing some wavelengths and reflecting others. This helps explain why a brilliant green on a screen may be difficult to reproduce accurately in paint or print (Fairchild 2013).
In nature, green is closely associated with
chlorophyll, the pigment responsible for capturing light energy during photosynthesis. Chlorophyll absorbs light most effectively in the blue and red regions of the spectrum, reflecting more green light. Plants contain several forms, including chlorophyll a and b, which absorb slightly different wavelengths (OpenStax 2013).
Autumn leaves demonstrate what happens when chlorophyll breaks down. As daylight hours shorten and temperatures change, yellow and orange carotenoids become more visible, while some plants produce red and purple anthocyanins. The disappearance of green reveals colours that were previously concealed or allows new pigments to become prominent (Archetti et al. 2009).
Green has also played an interesting role in photography and technology. Early photographic materials were primarily sensitive to blue and ultraviolet light, making green vegetation difficult to reproduce accurately. Later developments improved sensitivity to green and yellow wavelengths (Hirsch 2024).
During the late twentieth century, green became familiar through monochrome computer monitors, which displayed luminous green characters against black backgrounds. These screens used phosphor coatings that emitted green light when struck by an electron beam (Perryman 2021, 154).
Although we recognise each of these examples as green, the processes responsible for producing the colour are remarkably different, involving biological pigments, reflected light, photographic chemistry and electronic displays.
Colour Notes
Green was once a warning rather than permission to proceed. Early railway signalling systems used colours differently from modern traffic lights. During the nineteenth century, red generally indicated danger, green could mean caution and white indicated a clear route. Green eventually replaced white as the indication that a train could proceed (Scientific American 1853).
Green glass was not always a deliberate colour choice. Traditional glassmaking materials often contained traces of iron, giving finished glass a greenish tint. This was particularly common in inexpensive bottles, although darker green glass later became useful for protecting certain contents from light (Corning Museum of Glass n.d.-a; n.d.-b).
Fluorescent green emerged from experiments with ultraviolet light. During the 1930s, brothers Bob and Joe Switzer began investigating fluorescent substances, eventually contributing to the development of DayGlo pigments. Their unusually brilliant colours became familiar in advertising, fashion and safety applications (American Chemical Society 2012; Broman 2020).
Conclusion
Green has accompanied different stages of my life, from clothes to sometimes being utilised in my artwork. Some associations are connected to particular objects, while others involve people and places that have become more difficult to recall.
Its history is equally varied. Green has been valued for its connection with nature, pursued by artists struggling to reproduce it, embraced by fashion and transformed through developments in chemistry and technology. A colour that appears so readily in the natural world has required considerable ingenuity to recreate.
What interests me most is how an ordinary colour can carry such different associations. The green of a childhood bicycle, a Renaissance painting or an early computer screen may have little in common beyond its appearance, yet each belongs to a particular moment in time.
Sources and Further Reading
American Chemical Society. 2012. “DayGlo Fluorescent Pigments.” National Historic Chemical Landmarks. https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/dayglo.html
Amory, Dita. 2007. “The Barbizon School: French Painters of Nature.” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-barbizon-school-french-painters-of-nature
Archetti, Marco, et al. 2009. “Unravelling the Evolution of Autumn Colours: An Interdisciplinary Approach.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution 24 (3): 166–173. https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/56547.
Art Institute of Chicago. n.d. “Water Lilies.” Collection information. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/16568/water-lilies.
Banas, Emily. 2020. “Object Lesson: Deceptive Decor: Uncovering Arsenic in 18th- & 19th-Century Wallpapers.” RISD Museum, Issue 15: Green. https://risdmuseum.org/issue-15-green/object-lesson-deceptive-decor-uncovering-arsenic-18th-19th-century-wallpapers-emily.
Broman, Elizabeth. 2020. “Strange Brew: Creating Fluorescent Pigments.” Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, May 18, 2020. https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2020/05/18/strange-brew-mixing-fluorescent-pigments-copy/
Bureau of Engraving and Printing. n.d. “Frequently Asked Questions.” U.S. Department of the Treasury. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.bep.gov/currency/faqs.
Corning Museum of Glass. n.d.-a. “Black Bottle.” Glass Dictionary. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/black-bottle
Corning Museum of Glass. n.d.-b. “Bottle Glass.” Glass Dictionary. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/bottle-glass
Encyclopaedia Britannica. n.d. “Green.” Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.britannica.com/science/green-color.
Fairchild, Mark D. 2013. “Color Appearance Models.” In Color Appearance Models, 3rd ed., 199–212. Chichester: Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118653128.ch10
Guggenheim Museum. n.d. “Ellsworth Kelly.” Artist information. https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/ellsworth-kelly.
Hatch, Evie. n.d. “A History of the Colour Green in Art.” National Gallery, London. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast/colour-stories-green
Hirsch, Robert. 2024. Seizing the Light: A Social & Aesthetic History of Photography. 4th ed. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003213543
Mulholland, Richard. 2013. “This Week’s Post: Free From Arsenic.” Victoria and Albert Museum, October 4, 2013. https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/caring-for-our-collections/weeks-post-free-arsenic
National Eye Institute. n.d. “How the Eyes Work.” National Institutes of Health. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/healthy-vision/how-eyes-work.
National Gallery of Victoria. n.d. “Trellis Wallpaper.” Collection record. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/89940/.
OpenStax. 2013. “5.2 The Light-Dependent Reactions of Photosynthesis.” In Concepts of Biology. Houston, TX: OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/concepts-biology/pages/5-2-the-light-dependent-reactions-of-photosynthesis
Perryman, Laura. 2021. The Colour Bible: The Definitive Guide to Colour in Art and Design. London: Ilex Press.
Scientific American. 1853. “Signals.” Scientific American 8 (30): 233. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican04091853-233c
Statens Museum for Kunst. n.d. “Portrait of Madame Matisse: The Green Line.” SMK Open. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMSr171.
Pokorska, Anna. 2019. “Colours of Ancient Egypt – Green.” UCL Researchers in Museums, March 6, 2019. https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/researchers-in-museums/2019/03/06/colours-of-ancient-egypt-green/
United States Forest Service. n.d. “Why Leaves Change Color.” U.S. Department of Agriculture. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3817419.pdf
Van Gogh, Vincent. 1888. Letter to Theo van Gogh, September 8, 1888. Vincent van Gogh: The Letters. Van Gogh Museum. https://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let676/letter.html
Victoria and Albert Museum. n.d. “Wallpaper and Hygiene: The Story of Sanitary Wallcoverings.” Accessed October 15, 2026.https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/wallpaper-and-hygiene-the-story-of-sanitary-wallcoverings
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