Alizarin crimson is a shade of red that is biased slightly more towards purple than towards orange on the color wheel and has a blue undertone.

Alizarin crimson can create a wide range of rich, permanent purples and browns.

By the seventh century BC, the dye had been made into a lake pigment and was used across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

By this time the use of madder dye and pigment were widespread, but they remained costly and time-consuming to produce.

Alizarin crimson was a popular color Bob Ross used on his show The Joy of Painting.