Blockx Oil Paint
89 Pure, Bright & Buttery Colors Available in Tubes of 20ml, 35ml, 200ml and Extra Large Packagings of 500ml & 5 Liters
plus 4 Rare Historical Colors in 20ml Tubes.


Founded in 1865, Blockx Belgian Oil Colors are still handground with slowly rotating stone mills. With the experience of 5 generations of chemists only pure pigment is used for maximum lightfastness, buttery consistency and easy mixing on the canvas itself.

Iron oxides, earths and blacks are ground with linseed oil. All other pigments are ground with poppyseed oil which prevents yellowing and dries without wrinkling or mottling. The price of poppyseed oil is 3.6 times the price of linseed oil but it is worth it to avoid the defects of linseed oil with certain pigments i.e. yellowing and producing of an orange skin when drying. We have tested linseed oil vs. poppyseed oil over 144 years and have discovered which oil is best suited for each pigment. Poppy oil is better in most cases, for avoiding wrinkling, but also for consistency, brightness, application, and of course non-yellowing. Blockx does not produce any colors in hues, tones or tints. All fillers, extenders, and driers are excluded. The paint is nothing but pure pigment and oil. For a detailed explanation click here.

From Bill Creevy's The Oil Painting Book: "Such leading artists as Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali and Fairfield Porter have lavished glowing praise on Blockx oils, a testament to the extremely high quality of these paints."

"The superiority of Blockx oils can be attributed to three simple factors. The first is a careful selection of only the very best pigments and oils available. The second is powerful pigmentation. Blockx oils are made with the highest concentrations of pigment possible. The third factor is Blockx's 150-year legacy of serious craftsmanship, from the careful grinding of pigments in old-fashioned stone mills to the exacting formulations of paint recipes."

"The Blockx color range reflects quality rather than quantity. Approximately one-third of the Blockx palette consists of earth colors, whose particular beauty has made them legendary and reflects the importance of choice pigments. Blockx's range of earth colors offers several surprises. For example, there is no raw umber, but in its stead is a beautiful transparent brown: neither is there raw sienna, but two burnt siennas take its place, one dark, the other light. Another unique Blockx earth color is Capucine yellow, in both light and dark varieties. Undiluted, these colors are a rich, transparent "wood" red; when mixed with white they produce earthy flesh tones. "

"Because of the heavy pigmentation, the more chromatic hues of the Blockx line really sing out. Where necessary, Blockx's brighter and lighter colors, such as cerulean blue, are mixed with poppyseed oil rather than linseed oil to avoid any possible discolorations or yellowing. In fact Blockx is the only paint maker to use poppyseed oil to such a great extent. Blockx offers the full range of cadmiums and cobalts, plus a genuine transparent aureolin. Interestingly, Blockx does not have an alizarin crimson, but instead offers a series of rose madders made from the newer more lightfast pigment anthraquinone."

To quote Salvador Dali, writing about Jacques Blockx the founder in “50 Secrets of Craftsmanship”: “This man who never painted, will contribute more to the painters of tomorrow than what we will have accomplished, all the modern painters together”.

C O L O R S
•View hand painted swatches by clicking on a color below or
Download color chart in pdf format (820KB)


Colors by Transparency Rating: