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

Yellow has a long and complex history. It has been the color of everything from optimism and spontaneity to duplicity and envy. Yellow was both the established color of Judas Iscariot throughout the Western Middle Ages, as well the color of the heavens, creating the golden other-worldly elements of Byzantine Art. Throughout China, yellow was the color of glory, wisdom, and the Emperor.

Yellow, right behind Black, is one of the oldest pigments. Here I will be covering the general characteristics of Yellow, the most common yellow oil paints, and artists who used them.



Top Characteristic: Due to its high reflectivity, yellow paint tends to advance towards the viewer. This can create depth problems within a work, but knowing which yellow to use when can help eliminate problems.

Yellow Ochre:  One of the oldest pigments used in art, Yellow Ochre is a warm, opaque earth yellow that creates muted tints. 

It is a naturally occurring mineral consisting of silica and clay. It ranges in hues from yellow to brown due to the iron oxyhydroxide mineral, goethite. An ideal yellow to use while mixing skin tones, it was used in cave art, by the Egyptians, and later by the Romans. 

Note: Yellow Ochre is usually listed as an earth tone; however, I like to think of it more as a yellow. 

Naples Yellow: One of the oldest synthetic pigments, Napes Yellows is a pale, not completely opaque, warm, earth yellow with strong tinting tendencies.

Originally a lead antimoniate used in Babylonian and Assyrian pottery glazes and Egyptian glass, the name now refers more to the color than a specific pigment as it is no longer made with lead. Reportedly used by Old Master’s such as Rubens for skin tones, it is essential to landscape artists because unlike other yellows, Naples Yellow tends to recede into the picture plane and not advance out.

Artists such as Vollon (below left), Alma-Tadema (below right), Bouguereau, and Renoir used Naples Yellow. 

Cadmium Yellow: A genuine single pigment color, Cadmium Yellow is a brilliant, warm, opaque yellow with a naturally muted tint.

Cadmium was first discovered in 1817 as a by-product of the zinc industry, and from the yellow comes a range of oranges and reds. It replaced the toxic Chrome Yellows and was a favorite of impressionists such as Claude Monet. It is most useful for natural light paintings.

The true Cadmium Yellow sometimes will be marketed as Cadmium Yellow Medium. Also, Azo Yellow, is a non-toxic, cheaper, and equally lightfast option to Cadmium Yellow.

Since the 20th century, everyone uses Cadmium Yellow. Below are two examples, Van Gogh on the left and Matisse on the right. 

Hansa Yellow: An organic pigment, Hansa Yellow is a bright, cool, semi-transparent yellow that makes intense tints. 

Erroneously labeled as the “Cadmium wannabe,” it was first made in Germany right before WWI, and it is anything but a wannabe. Similar in mass-tone to Cadmium, it creates cleaner secondaries, brighter, more intense tints, and is an excellent glazer. It also allows for more of a color shift, moving from the coolest yellow with Hansa Yellow Light to warm, golden tones in Hansa Yellow Deep.

The coolest Hansa Yellow will also be marketed as Hansa Yellow Light.

How to Pick the Right Yellow 

In my post about color palettes, I mentioned that a more complete palette would have both a cool and a warm color for each primary in order to better manipulate color temperature. Understanding color temperature and knowing how to use it is one of the primary principals of painting.

Of the yellows listed above I would recommend Cadmium Yellow for a solid warm yellow, Hansa Yellow for a cool yellow, and Yellow Ochre as a warm earth tone. Naples Yellow is more expensive and can be purchased later as a supplemental yellow, although I have used it in almost every painting since I purchased it.

To read more about different paint colors, take a look at my main Tips and Techniques page.

To read more about yellow, I recommend the Wiki page about Yellow. The above information came from here, here and here.