RAL and NCS values are nearest equivalents, not official designations.
Cobalt blue represents creativity, inspiration, and artistic vision. It is the blue of Van Gogh's 'Starry Night', of Delftware pottery, and of the Mediterranean sea. It conveys both depth and brilliance simultaneously.
Cobalt blue as a pigment was first produced in 1802 by French chemist Louis Jacques Thénard, though blue cobalt glass had been made since ancient Egypt. It quickly became a favorite of Impressionist painters for its lightfast, vibrant qualities.
Ranked by CIE76 ΔE — the perceptual distance from Cobalt Blue. Lower ΔE means a closer match (below ~2 is barely distinguishable).
All 45 Blues →Nine steps of Cobalt Blue by lightness — from #002559 (darkest) to #7A9FD3 (lightest). Click any to copy.
Sitting opposite Cobalt Blue at 35° on the color wheel, these give the highest-contrast pairings.
Curated 5-color combinations featuring Cobalt Blue.
Brands and institutions known for using Cobalt Blue.
A 50–900 tonal scale with Cobalt Blue anchored at 500 — ready to drop into a design system. Click any step to copy.
Works well as text on light backgrounds; fails on dark.
Thresholds: AA needs 4.5:1 (normal text) / 3:1 (large); AAA needs 7:1 / 4.5:1. Large = 18pt+ or 14pt+ bold.
Copy-ready values for CSS, screen and print, plus the extra conversions designers reach for.
color: #0047AB; color-mix(in srgb, #0047AB 70%, white) 215°, 100%, 67% 100, 58, 0, 33 18347 #003399 How Cobalt Blue appears to viewers with the three main types of color blindness (~1 in 12 men, 1 in 200 women). Simulated approximations.