Color Matters Blog

The breaking news about all the "Colors of the Year 2020".

"First Light" – Benjamin Moore

“First Light” (2102-70) is Benjamin Moore's "Color of the Year 2020". It’s a soft airy hue – not too sweet. The brand describes it as “a backdrop for a bright new decade”. Worth noting is that pink has become more of a mainstream color thanks to Millennial Pink. In this case, you might consider “First Light” as the new white. It’s blooming with potential!

"Naval" – Sherwin Williams

"Naval" (SW 6244) is Sherwin Williams’ "Color of the Year 2020". It brings navy blue into a new era. The company describes it as a deep shade that “fuses the striking and bold opulence of Art Deco with the awe‐inspiring power of nature”. Naval was designed to do just that, inspiring a sense of "restfulness and tranquility" in one's home, according to a press release.

"Back to Nature" – Behr

Behr released “Back to Nature” as its "Color of the Year 2020" in mid- August. It’s a meadow-inspired light green hue that the brand describes as "calm, gracious, and balanced, and a way to bring the outside in.” Look closely at this complex color. It’s a very subdued olive green. Murky and peaceful.

Have some fun and test your imagination.

Assume that each of these two colors will be “The Color of the Year”. The challenge is to reinvent the color by giving it an evocative new name. You might even consider giving it a name that embodies a sense of calm.

#1 A light pink

The first color is a very light pink. Delicate and sheer. It’s floral like the palest pink roses; it’s sweet like the frosting on cupcakes, comforting like a stuffed bunny from childhood, and as feminine as ballet shoes.

If you had to reinvent this pink with a name that would get rid of all these associations – and have mass appeal – what would you name it?

Consider this: Some paint brands have named this tender hue “Pink Ground” or “Calamine” (Farrow & Ball), an almost identical color “Almost Pink” (Glidden), “Paris Pink (Portola Paints), “Pink Bliss” (Benjamin Moore), “Pink Elephant" (Behr), and coincidentally “Elephant Pink” (Benjamin Moore).

Pause for a moment. Use your imagination! It’s your turn to name it.

 Conclusion: Benjamin Moore has named this light pink “First light” - and it's "The Color of the Year 2020".

If ever there were a way for pink to shed its sweet, floral, and child-like associations, this does it. On the other hand, what is the color of first light? If you google it you’ll find images like the one below: In any event, it’s all in the name and this one is genius.

Here’s how it looks in the context of nature:

 #2 - A subtle green

This is a tricky one. It’s a very subdued light green. Sage? Or perhaps the color of a cooked artichoke or a murky swamp? It’s definitely earthy.

Google "the most expensive color in the world" and you’ll get a lot of information about diamonds. For example, a blue diamond that sold for $32 million and that red diamonds are the rarest and most expensive.

Google "the most expensive pigment" and you’ll find that Lapis Lazuli is believed to be the most expensive pigment ever created. It was pricier than its weight in gold.


From the essay, "Blue," in Alexander Theroux's "The Primary Colors" -
Blue was always the most expensive pigment for painters, first of all, for supernatural beauty, perfection, and glory. The goldlike flecks of pyrite crystals in lapis lazuli have often been compared to stars in the sky.

Google “the most expensive paint in the world” and you’ll get a lot of information about paintings such as Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi that sold for $450 million. You might even see an ad for marine bottom paint that sells for over $1000 for a 3-gallon can.

There's also YinMn Blue - a brilliant blue that was accidentally discovered 10 years ago. Unfortunately it appears that many paint manufacturers – such as Shepherd –are interested in the pigment and will be bringing paints to market after commercialization.

And that brings us back to this question about colors that you can buy today:

The most expensive paint color?

It’s supposed to solve the dilemma of winding up with all those cans of paint in colors that are too bold, too dingy, or not quite right. Both Benjamin Moore's Ben Color Capture and Sherwin-Williams' ColorSnap applications for the iPhone work the same way: Take a picture with your iPhone, zoom in on an area of color that you want to match in paint. Click “match” and the application gives you a range of paint options just like a real paint strip from their catalogue (either Moore or Sherwin). On the plus side, it shows the color’s nearest neighbors, in both lighter and darker shades.