Yellow is the colour closest to light. It is the colour of the noonday sun, of ripe wheat, of flame. Yet in the history of symbols few colours have had such a contradictory fate. In some cultures yellow was reserved for the emperor; in others it was used to mark the excluded. Following its story means discovering how the same colour can take on opposite values.
Yellow and gold
The first problem of yellow is its closeness to gold. In heraldry, for example, gold is represented by yellow: the two are considered the same tincture. In sacred art, however, real gold, in leaf, had a value no yellow pigment could equal.
This closeness created a symbolic division: everything positive belonging to light and kingship tended to be attributed to gold, while yellow was often left with the more ambiguous meanings. Yellow became, in a sense, a fallen gold.
Imperial yellow
In China, by contrast, yellow enjoyed very high prestige. In the doctrine of the five phases it was associated with the centre and with earth, and therefore with the position of the one who governs the world from its centre. Under the last dynasties, and particularly under the Qing, certain shades of bright yellow were reserved for the emperor and his family. The roofs of the imperial palaces of the Forbidden City are covered with yellow tiles.
Yellow here is the colour of cosmic sovereignty: the centre from which order radiates.
The saffron of renunciants
In India and in the Buddhist world the robes of monks and renunciants have shades ranging from saffron to ochre. These colours were originally obtained with simple plant dyes and were associated with abandoning the vanities of the world. Saffron, in the Indian tradition, also recalls fire: the fire that purifies and consumes what is superfluous.
Thus yellow-orange paradoxically becomes the colour of chosen poverty, which nevertheless shines like light.
Yellow as infamy in the West
In medieval and early modern Europe yellow acquired negative connotations. Historians of colour have observed that in late medieval painting Judas is often depicted in a yellow robe, as if to make him recognisable as the traitor. Yellow became the colour of lies, envy and betrayal.
This symbolism was also translated into painful social rules. In various cities and in various periods yellow distinguishing marks were imposed on minorities or on people considered marginal. It is an example of how a symbolic meaning can turn into an instrument of exclusion, and remembering it helps us look at symbols with critical awareness.
Why yellow became ambiguous
Some explanations can be offered, which add up without excluding one another:
- Competition with gold: the positive values migrated towards the precious metal.
- The instability of dyes: many plant yellows faded easily, and a colour that changes can seem untrustworthy.
- The association with sickness: the yellowish pallor of the skin was seen as a sign of illness, and the colour absorbed its negative nuance.
- Autumn: the yellow of falling leaves is the sign of decline.
A colour to rediscover
In the modern age yellow has regained part of its prestige. Many painters have used it as the colour of light itself, of vitality and emotional intensity. In contemporary sensibility it is often associated with energy and optimism.
A symbolic reading
| Tradition | Value of yellow |
|---|---|
| Imperial China | centre, sovereignty |
| India and Buddhism | renunciation, purifying fire |
| Medieval Europe | betrayal, exclusion |
| Modern painting | light, vitality |
Yellow teaches that light, when untempered, can become dazzling and unsettling. It is the brightest colour, but also the most exposed: it shows everything, even the stains. In symbolic reflection it can become the image of a clarity that must be received with humility, so as not to turn into pride.
In short
- Yellow is the colour closest to light, but it has had opposite meanings.
- In China it was the colour of the centre and, under the Qing, of the emperor.
- The saffron of monastic robes expresses renunciation and purifying fire.
- In medieval Europe it became the colour of betrayal and was used for marks of infamy.
- Competition with gold partly explains its Western ambiguity.
