What is the meaning of Pigmentation? Concept and Definition of Pigmentation

What is the Meaning of Pigmentation?

The word pigmentation comes from pigment, which is a material that is able to change the color of the light reflected, allowing you to use it to add color to all kinds of artistic, industrial, plastic, textile products and even food. Thus, for example, a cobalt pigment can produce a cobalt-blue pigment to be applied on any surface.

Pigments for artistic expressions can be found since prehistoric times. It is believed that old men of the caves, for example, used them to decorate their bodies, and later in time, during the middle ages, the biological pigments and minerals were the most frequent to produce works of art. The disadvantage was that by providing minerals, molluscs and plants unique to certain regions, many pigments were exorbitant costs, so the artists could not always use the colors who wished to. An interesting example is lapis lazuli, a deep blue that came from a precious stone located in remote areas and whose cost was quite high for a normal person. Use the blue in a painting, therefore, meant a significant additional cost for those who ordered the work, turning it into a symbol of status and wealth.
Later, with the rise of industry and scientific revolutions, the development of synthetic pigments allowed to produce them on a larger scale for artistic and commercial purposes. Some colors were able to be imitated and, consequently, many pigments that were previously exclusive to who had economic means were now cheaper and more accessible to the public in general.
Once the production of synthetic pigments was launched, the industry could finally fight the problem of inconsistency in the colors, through the development of standards to measure, test, identify and produce new pigments. Thus, in 1905 the Munsell system became an obligatory reference for producers, and a few decades later, in the mid-century, the international Organization for Standardization public standards for the production of pigments.

Definition of Pigmentation y Meaning of Pigmentation