March Color of the Month: Breath of Spring (DE5478)

Why Breath of Spring is March’s Color of the Month

Our latest Color of the Month, Breath of Spring (DE5478), is a green for those thinking outside the box this spring. When you think of the bloom of the spring season, you might traditionally think of creamy green pastels such as 2021’s March Color of the Month, or the verdant virtues of this other past March Color of the Month. However, this Perfect Palette® green we’ve chosen for spring is a yellow-infused misty hue, perfect for changing things up this season. In fact, Breath of Spring brings to mind hints of this buttery former color of the month.

We’ve recently highlighted 1980s-inspired greens in our exploration of Après Ski style and also you’ve seen a myriad of green and yellow tones pop up in our Mysa and Elysian color palettes, respectively, as part of our 2022 Color + Design Trends reveal. For some inspiration on using varying greens see the Claire Thomas-designed Sweet Laurel Cottage, in which Thomas utilized greens—both deeply saturated emeralds and lighter, misty hues—to cultivate an English country cottage vibe.

A Brief History of Yellow and Green

What we know about color is constantly changing (you may have seen recently that scientists have discovered a new blue) so let’s take a look back at what we do know of the colorful history of yellow and green.

Western symbology and color expert Michel Pastoureau notes that yellow pigments made from clay soils were used as far back as the Neolithic period for decorating human bodies and cave walls. In ancient Egypt, yellow was used to paint the bodies of Egyptian gods in order to resemble gold. Ancient Egyptians also viewed the color green as a symbol of rebirth, painting the color on tomb walls.

During the Renaissance green clothing came to denote the merchant class, while other colors such as red, labeled nobility. As a pigment, green was actually a highly toxic and deadly color. In the late 1700s chemist Wilhelm Scheele invented a yellowish-green hue (coined Scheele’s Green) made with highly toxic arsenic. With its toxicity relatively unknown at the time, the color was used in all manners of art and design. As time passed deep, saturated greens emerged as a favorite during the Art Nouveau period of the late 19th-century and continued to reign on into the Art Deco period of the Roaring '20s.

The meanings and affiliations of the colors green and yellow are nearly as vast as their number of hues. But one thing remains unchanged, and that’s their popularity throughout the centuries. Look to March’s green-yellow color of the month, Breath of Spring (DE5478), to give your space a rebirth. Whether bringing a dose of sunshine to kitchen cabinetry (or the entire kitchen like designer Claire Thomas did in her own Los Angeles home), refreshing a front door to embrace the changing weather, or designing an accent wall, we invite you to breathe in the new season with Breath of Spring.

Getting Started
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