Winsor Red and Winsor Red Deep belong to the Pyrrole family of pigments. The Pyrroles are among the first of a new generation of pigments to offer the combination of clarity and opacity approaching that of the Cadmiums. Winsor & Newton Pyrroles are clean and dense in heavy layers while being well-suited for subdued, diluted mixtures.
The Pyrroles are at least the third generation of modern pigments that we have used for Winsor Reds. Our first Winsor Reds in the 1920’s were the earliest coal tar red pigments. These colours changed the artists’ palette forever; semi-transparent reds sitting between the opacity of the cadmiums and the transparency of the fugitive 19th c. lakes. Although unique in hue, these original pigments offered only moderately durable permanence, so naturally enough, as Winsor & Newton, we were as keen as ever to improve them and have done so at every opportunity in the last 80 years. As the complexity of modern chemistry increased, it made possible successive improvements in the lightfastness of the organic red pigments and we are delighted to have arrived with our two Winsor reds being at least as permanent as cadmiums. In water colour, we know lightfastness is of the utmost importance because of the thinness of the water colour film.

Pyrrole, PR264
A – Permanent
Series 1
Semi-Opaque
Staining