Name: 一管藍色油畫竟要價台幣一萬五？！揭開「世界最貴藍色」的秘密！ (How The World's Most Expensive Color Is Made | So Expensive | Business Insider)
Uploaded: 2025-12-10T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 11 min 28 s

This is the most expensive blue paint in the world.

It comes from these lapis lazuli rocks, extracted from mines in Afghanistan.

它是從阿富汗礦場開採出來的青金石石頭製成的。

But you can't just crush up lapis lazuli and turn it into paint like you would with many other natural pigments.

但你不能像處理許多其他天然顏料一樣，隨便把青金石壓碎就變成顏料。

It takes a laborious process to create the color called ultramarine blue.

要製作出稱為群青色的顏色，需要一個費工的過程。

We found it priced as high as $460 for a 225 milliliter tube of oil paint that was on sale.

我們發現一管 225 毫升的油畫顏料特價時，價格高達 460 美元。

This identically sized tube of synthetic ultramarine costs only $19.

同樣大小的合成群青顏料，價格只要 19 美元。

Lapis lazuli pigment has been expensive since ancient times.

青金石顏料自古以來就很昂貴。

But modern day artists have the option of a much cheaper alternative.

但當代藝術家有便宜許多的選擇。

So why do some still favor the natural stuff?

那為什麼還是有人偏愛天然材料呢？

The first step in turning lapis lazuli stone into paint is to crush it.

有時候我打噴嚏都會噴出藍色。

Pigment maker Mohammed Irfan's goal is a fine powder, but

顏料製造商 Mohammed Irfan 的目標是研磨成細粉，但

not too fine, or else he will have a difficult time extracting the bright blue lazerite from the other minerals in the stone.

不能太細，否則他將難以從石頭中的其他礦物質裡提取出明亮的藍色青金石。

If the lazerite isn't pure enough, you end up with a muddy grayish color, rather than the true blue ultramarine is known for.

如果青金石不夠純淨，最終會得到渾濁的灰褐色，而不是群青色聞名的純藍色。

That's because the lapis lazuli rock contains a mixture of minerals that left in the mix can dilute the color of the finished product.

這是因為青金石岩石含有礦物質混合物，如果留在裡面，會稀釋成品的顏色。

So our job is to remove all those impurities and just extract laserite.

所以我們的任務是去除所有這些雜質，只提取青金石。

When Business Insider visited Mohamed's workshop in Canada, he showed us the Ciniti method, named after the Italian painter who most famously described it.

當 Business Insider 參觀 Mohamed 在加拿大的工作室時，他向我們展示了 Ciniti 方法，這個方法是以最著名描述它的義大利畫家命名的。

It's one of the oldest and most labor intensive ways to turn lapis lazuli into Fra Angelico, the purest ultramarine blue pigment.

這是將青金石變成 Fra Angelico，最純淨的群青色顏料，最古老且最耗費勞力的方法之一。

It takes longer and produces less pigment than other methods, so it's usually reserved for specialty orders.

它比其他方法花費的時間更長，產生的顏料也更少，所以通常只保留給特殊訂單。

We extract lazurite by Cennini method when we are supplying to different museums and for the restoration project.

當我們供應給不同博物館和修復專案時，我們會使用 Cennini 方法提取青金石。

What separates the Sanini method from other methods is that the powder gets turned into a dough.

Sanini 方法與其他方法不同之處在於，粉末會變成麵團。

Muhammad heats the lapis lazuli powder with beeswax, pine resin, mastic gum, and linseed oil.

Muhammad 用蜂蠟、松脂、乳香膠和亞麻籽油加熱青金石粉末。

So when I'm doing this, I sometimes start eating them.

所以當我這樣做的時候，我會開始吃它們。

Traditionally, the mixture is stored for a week.

傳統上，這種混合物會儲存一週。

Mohammed rolls his dough into little balls and lets them dry for two or three days.

Muhammad 將他的麵團揉成小球，然後讓它們乾燥兩到三天。

I was raised in Pakistan, the north of Pakistan, with pine trees all over.

我在巴基斯坦北部長大，那裡到處都是松樹。

It looks like I'm in that area of my childhood where I grown up.

感覺就像回到了我小時候長大的地方。

I used to make long sticks and then extract it with hand.

我以前會把它們搓成長條，然後用手提取。

This is an even bigger deviation from Sanini's original method.

這跟 Sanini 原本的方法差很多了。

He specified that the pigment should be washed out of the dough by hand, specifically the hands of a young girl.

他規定顏料要用手從麵團裡洗出來，特別是年輕女孩的手。

Mohammad's method is mostly hands free, opting for a ball mill that tumbles the dough.

Mohammad 的方法大多不用手，而是用滾筒式球磨機來攪拌麵團。

They will push each other and you know, it will create a.

它們會互相擠壓，然後你知道，就會產生一個。

And so the lazurite is going to come quickly and easily.

這樣青金石就會快速輕鬆地出來。

After about two hours, the lazurite will be pulled into the water, leaving the other minerals stuck in water.

大約兩個小時後，青金石會被拉入水中，其他礦物質則留在水中。

You can see this, this is all fried angelica.

你可以看到這個，這都是炸過的當歸。

First it need washing five, six more times.

After the final wash, Mohammed will run the drained pigment through a dehydrator and in about two hours it's ready to use.

最後一次清洗後，穆罕默德會把瀝乾的顏料放進脫水機，大約兩小時後就可以使用了。

So now you can see this a beautiful color.

所以現在你可以看到這個，多美的顏色啊。

See, with the 400 gram of using lapistuzuli, we only got this much.

你看，用了 400 克青金石，我們只得到這麼一點。

And this is around 20 to 30 gram, this size of the jar of Fra Angelico Sinnini.

這個大約是 20 到 30 克，像這樣一罐的 Fra Angelico Sinnini。

Muhammad's company, De Miro, produces 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of lapis lazuli pigment every year, mostly using a secret method that he took six years to.

穆罕默德的公司 De Miro 每年生產 4,000 到 5,000 磅的青金石顏料，大部分是使用他花了六年時間才學到的獨門祕方。

While the Cennini method can take up to four days to produce one kilo of pigment, Muhammad's method yields up to 20 kilos in a single day.

雖然 Cennini 的方法生產一公斤顏料可能要花四天，但穆罕默德的方法一天就能產出高達 20 公斤。

Like Michael Harding, he we supply to him.

像是 Michael Harding，我們也供應給他。

So his orders are usually like 200 to 400 kilo so that we cannot extract by the Sanini method.

所以他的訂單通常是 200 到 400 公斤，我們無法用 Cennini 的方法來提煉。

Muhammad has spent nearly his whole life thinking about lapis lazuli.

穆罕默德花了他幾乎一生的時間在研究青金石。

He grew up in Pakistan on the border of Afghanistan, the region where most of the world's lapis lazuli comes from.

他在巴基斯坦長大，靠近阿富汗邊境，那裡是世界上大部分青金石的產地。

I think I was 7 or 8 years old and someone brought lapis ruff to show to my grandfather.

我大概七、八歲的時候，有人拿了粗製的青金石給我爺爺看。

And at that time, when I saw lapis, I got so fascinated with its pyrite and the color, and

那時候，我看到青金石，就被它的黃鐵礦和顏色深深吸引，

But getting lapis lazuli from Afghanistan these days is more than a matter of expense.

但現今從阿富汗取得青金石，不僅僅是費用的問題。

In June 2025, we sent a videographer to see how lapis lazuli is mined at Sari Sangi, the largest source of the stone in the world.

在 2025 年 6 月，我們派了一位攝影師去看看青金石是如何在世界上最大的礦源 Sari Sangi 被開採的。

From the capital city of Kabul, it's about a 10 hour drive to Faizabad.

從首都喀布爾開車到 Faizabad 大約需要 10 小時。

Then it's another 5 hours or so to the remote mine across treacherous mountain roads.

接著還要再開大概五小時的車，沿著崎嶇的山路才能抵達偏遠的礦區。

After the daunting journey, what we found was not what we were expecting.

經過這趟艱辛的旅程，我們發現的景象跟預期的完全不一樣。

We'd coordinated with the Ministry of Culture and Information, which either didn't know or didn't give us any indication the mine wouldn't be operational.

我們已經跟文化資訊部協調好了，但他們不是不知道，就是沒有給我們任何訓示說礦場已經停工了。

We don't know exactly why the mines have closed, but

我們不確定礦場關閉的確切原因，但

they've been under Taliban control since it took over in 2021, following the US's withdrawal from the country.

自從塔利班在 2021 年美國撤軍後接管阿富汗以來，這些礦場就一直由他們控制。

Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan has come under criticism for potentially funding the militant fundamentalist move.

阿富汗的青金石因為可能資助激進的伊斯蘭基本教義派運動而受到批評。

But it's still the world's highest quality source of the stuff.

但它仍然是世界上品質最高的青金石來源。

The mines here are saturated with lazarite, making the stones bluer and more intense than lapis lazuli found elsewhere.

這裡的礦脈富含藍銅礦，讓石頭比其他地方發現的青金石更藍、更飽滿。

Afghanistan is also the location of the first known use of lapis lazuli as a pigment.

阿富汗也是青金石首次被用作顏料的地方。

These 6th or 7th century wall paintings near the Buddhas of Bamiyan, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and

這些位於巴米揚佛像（聯合國教科文組織世界遺產）附近的六、七世紀壁畫，

Since then, it's been used by artists all over the world, like in this 16th century copy of the Book of Kings from Persia or in Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl earring from the 17th century.

從那時起，世界各地的藝術家都使用它，像是這幅 16 世紀波斯《列王紀》的摹本，或是 17 世紀維梅爾的《戴珍珠耳環的少女》。

During the Renaissance, lapis lazuli was the highest quality and most expensive shade of blue painters could buy.

文藝復興時期，青金石是畫家能買到最高品質、最昂貴的藍色。

Its luxury status, combined with the Christian symbolism of blue, blue representing divinity, meant they used it almost exclusively in religious contexts, like the robes of the Virgin Mary.

它的奢華地位，再加上藍色象徵神聖的基督教意涵，意味著他們幾乎只在宗教場合使用它，像是聖母瑪利亞的長袍。

And Michelangelo reserved it for the heavens in the Last Judgment.

米開朗基羅則將它保留在《最後的審判》中的天空。

These days, you don't need funding from the Pope to afford a version of ultramarine blue.

現在，你不需要教宗的贊助，也能負擔得起群青色。

Artists can now use a cheaper synthetic option.

藝術家們現在可以使用更便宜的合成選項。

Today, it sometimes costs 24 times less than the natural stuff.

今天，它的價格有時比天然材料便宜 24 倍。

And while the two varieties are mostly identical, artists will still reach for the pricier natural one for certain occasions.

雖然這兩種類型幾乎相同，但藝術家們在某些場合仍會選擇價格較高的天然品。

Lapis azuli has a crystalline structure, so it reflects light, and the synthetic one, it absorbs more light.

青金石有結晶結構，所以會反射光線，而合成的則會吸收更多光線。

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一管藍色油畫竟要價台幣一萬五？！揭開「世界最貴藍色」的秘密！ (How The World's Most Expensive Color Is Made | So Expensive | Business Insider)

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