Inspiration in the color peach.

The history of peach.

The origin of the name peach — the color and the fruit.

The color peach was named after the fruit. The fruit was named after one area it was cultivated in, but not where it originated. The peach fruit was first grown in China. It was later cultivated in Persia on its way to its eventual adoption in Europe. Because of its passage through Persia, the Latin term persica (literally, “the fruit from Persia”) turned to pêche in French, and then peche in Middle English.

Peaches were easy to cultivate and transport, and so the fruit and color both traveled the globe.

By the mid-1500s, peaches were sent to the Americas where they were farmed by Spanish monks in Florida. By the early 1600s, they were being cultivated around Jamestown, Virginia. The color was quickly associated with the fruit, and the color peach enjoyed massive adoption once synthetic dyes boomed. In the 1920s and 1930s, peach color mirrors were a memorable addition to luxury homes and classy nightclubs.

The color peach took on new associations when color came back.

The Great Depression and World War II quashed color from most fashion and design. When color was reintroduced into homes and couture in the post-war era, peach was roughly as daring as one could go in terms of bright, warm colors. Today, peach color has new associations. The color peach is connected with encouragement and playfulness. The energy that peach color delivers isn’t overbearing — it hangs in the balance of good fun.

The color peach across different cultures.

The color peach is significant in Chinese culture.

The peach fruit originated in China. Its characteristic color represents immortality to the Chinese people, in part because of legends around The Peach Tree of Immortality. The tree is said to bloom only once every 3,000 years, and the peaches it bears play a great role in Taoist mythology. The color peach as well as the fruit are frequently depicted in Chinese artwork.

Many cultures associate the color peach with health and fertility.

Flemish artist Jan Van Eyck’s painting the Arnolfini Portrait (1434) shows just how long peaches and the color peach have denoted fertility, especially of women. The peaches in the corner of this painting are highly representative, almost suggestive. By the Impressionist age, peach color was used with other warm pastels to represent beauty, while still paying special homage to fertility

Peach color was the revised name for a Crayola crayon color, too.

As the Crayola brand expanded its catalog of colors, one shade got due debate in the 1960s. Prior to the 1960s in the United States, Crayola had a peach color crayon that it called “flesh.” The color represented what the brand considered “flesh-colored,” but only referring to the skin common of European-descent Caucasians. In 1962, in recognition of the Civil Rights Movement, the brand renamed the crayon to peach color.