Kremer Pigments Watercolor Review and Lightfast Testing

Kremer Pigments is a pigment manufacturer located in Germany that also has an American branch in New York. They specialize in supplying dry pigments sourced from around the world, including rare minerals, to large paint making companies (like Daniel Smith). They also offer smaller batch options to small businesses (like handmade watercolor sellers on Etsy) as well as individual paint makers. Their website has a selection of ready made watercolors, shellac inks, acrylic, brushes, binders and mediums.

Their paints are expensive and sometimes sloppy in their pouring/bubbles/drips. However, the quality of the paint is spectacular. My only complaint in performance has been surrounding particularly difficult pigments, which would suffer re-wettability issues in any brand (Rare green earths or YinMin Blue). They offer everything from rare pigments (PB71 Zirconuim Cerulean Blue), odd minerals (even things like Pyrite / Fool's Gold), to strong examples of granulating pigments (Cobalts/Cadmiums), a huge variety of earth browns from many continents, to common pigments (Phthalo Blue, Dioxazine Violet) etc.

There are also mica-based pigment powders or watercolor paints available. These are shiny metallic colors made by coating PW20 (a reflective transparent to white sheet silicate) with secondary pigments. Their golds rival the sparkle of Coliro / Finetec and each metallic color I've tested from Kremer has also been lightfast.

They do offer some fugitive pigments and do not have clear lightfast ratings or even pigment codes for some of their items.

PG24 Ultramarine Green Genuine: Fugitive. A version of Ultramarine that went into production during the 1820s, but is no longer mass manufactured. This color is created as a step in the process of making Ultramarine Blue, before heating further with sulfur. With that in mind, it's possible that the sun's heat (not just UV light) during lightfast testing helped speed this hue change:

 

The popularity and demand of Ultramarine Green dwindled by the 1960s. Kremer Pigments is the only large business currently still offering PG24. It is very opaque and is similar to some shades of Cobalt Green Deep in masstone. The color separates to expose an ultramarine blue color when salt is applied, suggesting color separation as well as granulation when used in very wet washes. Unfortunately, the green fades with UV exposure, almost entirely returning to a standard Ultramarine Blue color within 6 months of window light.

 

Swatch Cards:

 

           

Their USA website is: https://shop.kremerpigments.com/us/

You can find their ready-made watercolors at https://shop.kremerpigments.com/us/shop/ready-made-colors/kremer-watercolors/

(Worldwide you may want to check their original site at https://www.kremer-pigmente.com/en/ )

To see how these individual colors compare to other brands, check out the swatch card pigment database here.

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