Blue possesses a kind of eternal appeal that combines the sublimity of the heavens with the precariousness of earth-bound existence. Goethe spoke of blue as “beautiful nothingness”, and Yves Klein described it as “the invisible becoming visible”. For them both, blue represented a world of freedom, vastness and an unobtrusive, objective distance.
In the private sphere, blue separates the world into a divisive model of deference and faux-friendly harmony: on the one hand, the dark blue trouser suit or navy blue pinstripe and on the other, the light blue of the bus driver’s shirt or the blue work overalls worn by manual labourers.