Every great watercolor has its particular personality, and in our view, Holbein’s best features are its unparalleled high-chroma colors and its transparency. One glance at Holbein’s color chart reveals that these colors are all about intensity and light, with numerous botanical pinks, stormy deep blues, and fewer neutrals than you’d expect.

Because the pigments are so intense and finely milled, Holbein outperforms other watercolor in thin, transparent applications. Every Holbein watercolor dilutes smoothly to create a wide range of values, from ultra-dark to subtle and light. Its bright pigments and advanced formula allow you to color more water, more evenly, with a very small amount of paint.

In general, Holbein colors are less granulating and more uniform in texture and flow than the classic European watercolors on which they were based in Holbein’s early days. They are also generally brighter. Even in Holbein’s range of earth pigments, you’ll find surprisingly bright colors, particularly in the intense gold and red undertones.

This classic red box, Holbein’s best-selling watercolor set, contains twelve essential colors for all styles of painting in 5 mL tubes. The colors included are W010 Crimson Lake, W019 Vermilion Hue, W034 Yellow Ochre, W036 Permanent Yellow Light, W066 Permanent Green #1, W061 Viridian Hue, W091 Cobalt Blue Hue, W097 Prussian Blue, W134 Burnt Sienna, W133 Burnt Umber, W138 Ivory Black, and W002 Chinese White.

Made in Japan.

About Holbein:

Established in Osaka in 1900, Holbein has been Japan’s premier manufacturer and distributor of art materials for more than a hundred years. In the early twentieth century, Holbein brought numerous art materials to Japan for the first time, including those items (like paints, canvas, and metal clips) that the small company manufactured under its own name. Other supplies were made available through Holbein’s friendly ties with European manufacturers like Schmincke and Winsor & Newton.