Orange Oil Paint: Pigments, Basics, and How to Pick the Right Orange

Orange, the color of life vests and crossing guards, autumn and amusement, Buddhism and Hinduism, was not always such a “safe” color. Historically produced through extremely toxic means, it wasn’t until the 1880s, when synthetic oranges were produced from Cadmium Yellow, that a stable, almost non-toxic orange was available to artists.

Orange is one of the youngest true pigments; even its name is relatively new. Oddly the color orange, at least in the West, didn’t have a name until the late 15^th century when orange trees were brought from China. Before it was referred to as yellow-red. I had always erroneously assumed that the orange tree was named for the color and not the other way around.

Top Characteristic: Unlike yellow and red, orange becomes brighter instead of darker when deepened by its neighbor, red. 

Orange is the warmest color on the color wheel and tends to advance towards the viewer, though less than yellow.    

Cadmium Orange: Made from Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange is a warm, opaque orange with a naturally muted tint. 

The first true orange pigment as it is considered to be the pure hue of Orange. It was a happy replacement to minium, orpiment (arsenic), and Realgar, all extremely toxic or poisonous orange pigments used throughout the Middle Ages and Ancient China into the 1800s.

As a pure hue of orange, Cadmium Orange is also the warmest color on the color wheel.

Azo Orange, like Azo Yellow, is a non-toxic, cheaper, and equally lightfast option to Cadmium Orange.

Transparent Orange: Made from the dark yellow pigment diarylide, Transparent Orange is a warm, transparent orange with a strong red undertone that creates a muted but bright tint.

Transparent Orange is a rich, complex orange that creates variation in color temperature by being warm right out of the tube, but when mixed with white it pushes the paint into the cooler range. Transparent Orange allows for delicate glazes, blends, and mixtures.

Indian Yellow: Now made synthetically, Indian Yellow is a warm, transparent, deep yellow-orange with naturally sunlit tints. 

Used by the ancient Far East and throughout Europe during the 15th and 18th century, how the pigment was made was unknown until an investigation in 1883. Made in rural India (hence Indian Yellow) by force feeding cows mango leaves and little to no water. The cow's urine was collected into dirt balls and sold as a "pigment." After being banned in various countries the paint is now synthetically made.  

I included Indian Yellow as a part of my oranges because it is such a deep yellow-orange. I like to use it in place of Cadmium Orange when I need a transparent orange. 

How to Pick the Right Orange 

All of that being said, most artists of the past would mix their own oranges. It hasn't been until the past handful of decades that colorfast oranges have become available and are now more widely used. Having a tube orange can help create consistency throughout multi-day painting sessions, but this is also easy to achieve by mixing.

So while I do have both Cadmium Orange and Indian Yellow, these are colors that you can hold off on purchasing, unless you are a heavy orange user or you need a transparent orange. Transparency is also most impossibly to maintain through mixing.

Orange used throughout Art History: Below are some very orange paintings in the following order - Lord Leighton, Van Gogh, Fragonard, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Rossetti.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.