Sara saidi
08/05/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 08/05/2021 7:16 AM
While today it inspires travel, calm and escape, in Roman times
blue
was "the color associated with the barbarians, Celts and Germans," writes historian Michel Pastoureau.
From Antiquity to the 12th century, there was not even a precise term in Latin or Greek to refer to the color blue: "Saying 'blue' in Latin is a difficult exercise because it is not that there is not one word, but that there are too many and all are imprecise, unstable ", explains the author of" Bleu, histoire d'une couleur "(" Blue, history of a color
")
.
The origin of the word blue in Romance languages comes from the Germanic, Blau, and the Arabic, Azraq, which becomes "azure" in the West.
Among the Arabs, "blue is icy and nothing (...) An implacable enemy (...) is a blue enemy, a violent death (...) is a blue death," wrote Abdelwahab Bouhdiba in 1980 , author of the article "Les Arabes et les couleurs" ("Arabs and colors"), published in Cahiers de la Méditerranée.
Thus, blue, which was not well seen, was an almost non-existent color in the different representations for many years.
Only the Egyptians of the time of the pharaohs were an exception: for them, blue-green brought good luck in the afterlife.
From religion to politics
It was not until the 12th and 13th centuries when the color blue was restored, as it was chosen in particular to dress the Virgin Mary: "In the 12th century, the Virgin became the main agent for promoting blue," says Michel Pastoureau in an interview with
L'Express
.
The flags of the European Union: the bloc also chose the color blue as its emblem.
Photo: AFP
At the same time, the sky was also painted blue to differentiate divine from earthly light.
"Initially religious and Marian, blue broke into Gothic stained glass windows. Then it entered politics: the coat of arms of the Capet family (fleur-de-lis on an azure background) became the emblem of the King of France around 1130. Red remained imperial and papal, but blue became royal: it was the color of the legendary King Arthur, "writes Annie Geoffroy in her review of Michel Pastoureau's book.
For Isabelle Bernier, historian and associate member of FRAMESPA CNRS - Laboratory of the University of Toulouse, it is because "the French monarchy claimed to be absolute and of divine right" that "religious blue was linked to the person of the king, to finally become a political blue ".
From the monarchy to the progressive republicans
Therefore,
the political blue is mainly French.
"Between 1789 and 1794, it went from the shield to the cockade, from the cockade to the flag and to uniforms," says Annie Geoffroy.
In fact, blue, red and white were first combined with the tricolor cockade and then on the official flag.
However, during the
French Revolution
, blue and white were opposed for a time: "When the Vandeans rose up against the new French Republic, they kept the king's white. And on the other side, the blue of the soldiers embodied the French Republic, "Isabelle Bernier explained to RFI.
Blue white and red, the colors of the flag of France, emerged from the Revolution of 1789. Photo: AP
"Blue was the color of the nation under the Old Regime and it continued to be so under the French Revolution," Michel Pastoureau also confirmed in France Culture.
Today,
blue is still the color of France
, as evidenced by the color of the jerseys and the nickname of French football and rugby teams.
When I don't have blue, I turn red ", said Pablo Picasso. The Spanish artist did not think he could say it so well, because if in the 19th century blue was the color of the progressive republicans, in the 20th century it was moving towards the conservative right , while red became the representation of the left and communism, especially with the creation of the Chinese Communist Party and the proclamation of the USSR in 1922.
With the exception of the United States, blue came to represent parties on the right of the political spectrum.
As a return to its roots, blue, once religious, became
the color of conservatives.
The blue, color of the shirt of the French football team.
Photo: AFP
"Blue jeans" and work clothes
According to Michel Pastoureau, the favorite color of Westerners, blue, is now a "neutral" color: "Omnipresent, consensual, blue has become a reasonable color," the historian told
L'Express
.
In the various representations in cinema or in art, blue has also replaced the black of the night.
But the color blue owes its success above all to the appearance of blue pants in the 1850s, first as a work shirt, then as a leisure garment and finally, in the 1950s, as a symbol of youth.
The "blue jeans", symbol of youth and freedom in the 60s.
"You can talk about the globalization of blue thanks to jeans," says Isabelle Bernier.
Today, blue also symbolizes
understanding, honesty, and even peace.
Most international organizations use blue for their logos.
This is the case of the UN, UNICEF, UNESCO and the blue helmets, and it is also the color of the European flag.
Blue Helmets: United Nations peacekeepers.
But, according to Isabelle Bernier, even there blue is undeniably "a symbol of power."
Blue is also the color of confidence.
So it's no coincidence that
social media giants like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
have chosen her to represent them.
More recently, blue has also been used on social media to support the Sudanese people in June 2019 and to denounce the trafficking of Uighurs in China in October 2020.
The fight for the environment
According to Camille Biros, author of the article entitled "The colors of the environmental discourse",
blue also tends to take the place of green in the discourse in favor of environmental protection
.
"Sometimes the relevance of green to represent the environmental cause is questioned," he says.
"Doubts can be expressed on both sides of the political spectrum by those who consider that it has lost its meaning because it has been used excessively by organizations that have nothing to do with the environment, and by those who want to distance themselves from a green party whose politics they do not appreciate it ", adds the professor at the University of Grenoble Alpes.
In addition,
blue is increasingly relevant to represent the fight for the environment
, given the importance of blue in nature (the ocean, the sky) but also the environmental problems that our societies face, such as scarcity. water or air pollution.
Against white, red and now green, blue has progressively gained a place of choice in our societies.
What if his true power came from his apparent neutrality?
The author is a journalist for Radio France Internationale
CB
Look also
Joe Biden hires "influencers" to convince young people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus
"Come on, ask me!": Emmanuel Macron answers the doubts of the French about vaccines