Green, Symbol of Hope or the Harbinger of Death

The word green is closely related to the Old English verb growan, “to grow.” In some cultures, green symbolizes hope, fertility and growth, while in others, it is associated with death, sickness, or the devil. It can also describe someone who is inexperienced, jealous, or sick. More recently, green symbolizes ecology and the environment.

Green is considered a secondary color created by mixing yellow and blue. Green pigments have been used since Antiquity. The Egyptians made green from natural earth and malachite.

Greeks introduced verdigris, one of the first artificial pigments. Copper resonate was introduced in European 15th century easel panting, but was soon discarded.

Green was once considered a secret color by the Chinese and more prized than gold, with only a select few able to obtain the dyes for it. In central Asia, celadon was for centuries thought to have secret magical powers. Celadon is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware, and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains.


Longquan celadons produced in Longquan, Zhejiang, China in the 13th century.

Muslims believed the color green to have alexipharmic (antidote for poison) powers. If celadon tableware was used to prepare and serve food, the family was thought to be protected from poison. William Warham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, owned a sea green cup that may have been given to him to protect him from poisonous food, since he was a taster for official dinners.

Green was associated with Indian mysticism, and was found in Asian poems and Buddhist artwork. During the Romantic period, green was considered akin to the beauty of nature. Chinese Wallpapers popular among the nobility from the time of Mary Queen of Scotts show green vines creeping up walls with all manner of exotic green plants and birds.

But there was a sinister side to the green paint used by artists during this time. A chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele patented a new brilliant green paint he named Scheele’s Green. He came upon it accidentally while experimenting with arsenic in 1775. Though he privately noted that the new color might be toxic, it didn’t deter him from obtaining a patent. Soon manufacturers were using the new pigment for paints, wallpapers and all types of household items.

Green wallpaper was thought to contribute to the demise of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Longmont estate where he was being held in exile on the island of St. Helena was subject to dampness. It is believed that the mold that formed on the walls reacted with the arsenic in the green patterned wallpaper, causing the air in the house to become infused with the poison. A strip of wallpaper was torn off of a wall and recently scientifically tested. Traces of Scheele’s arsenite was found in the patterns of green and gold fleurs-de-lis.



Around the same time, a sample of his hair was tested and shown to contain a level of arsenic twenty times the safest amount. Though at the time of his death he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, it’s possible that what led to this diagnosis was Napoleon’s exposure to arsenic, which is believed to be one cause of gastric carcinoma. Six years after his arrival at St. Helena, Napoleon died.

As it turned out, not only green, but yellow, blue and magenta held traces of arsenic. In 1888, Henry Carr reported that arsenic found in artificial flowers, carpets, toys, and fabrics as well as in paint and wallpaper was responsible for the deaths of children and adults. Still, the allure of bright greens over the dull grays and browns of that time was too strong and its use continued well into the 19th century before it was replaced with the safer cobalt green.

“It’s not easy being green.”

-Kermit: Sesame Street frog puppet, singing about identity