Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul (Blue House) was where the painter spent much of her life with husband Diego Rivera, and it still stands, bright as ever, as her museum in Mexico. 

When Yves Klein, himself the son of artists, married Rotraut Uecker in 1962, he painted a small antique crown in his signature shade— now known to the world as Yves Klein Blue– and presented it to her for their wedding day. His bride later said, “He was the King of Blue and I was his Queen.” 

At Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech, the magnificent Moroccan retreat of Jacques Majorelle, the artist colored the buildings, fountains and accents from one side of the gardens to the other in his favorite cobalt. All that Majorelle Blue caught the eye of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, who later refurbished the property as their own oasis. 

The Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, from Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to Paul Cézanne, all adored the use of cobalt. When Vincent Van Gogh painted “Starry Night” in 1889, the shade played a *starring* role in accentuating the moon. In a letter to his brother Theo, who had sent him blue pigments, the artist said, “Cobalt–is a divine colour, and there’s nothing so fine as that for putting space around things.”