Rublev Colours Dry Pigments - Mars Red (Yellow Shade) is a classic, high-tinting synthetic iron oxide pigment with a rich russet to maroon mass tone and warm, earthy red behaviour in mixes. Part of the permanent Mars colour family, Mars Red (PR 101) is valued for its very fine particle size, which gives it strong colour strength and reliable performance across oil, acrylic, and water-based paint systems.

The Yellow Shade version leans warmer and more earthy, making it ideal for brick and terracotta tones, warm underpainting, natural skin and hair mixtures, landscape earth reds, and muted reds that never feel garish. Mixed with white, it produces a wide range of soft pinks and salmon tints, and it is excellent for lowering chroma in brighter colours while keeping mixtures warm and natural.

Like other iron oxides, Mars Red is exceptionally stable, with ASTM Lightfastness I across common artist media and excellent weatherability. It mulls easily into oil and disperses well into acrylic, watercolour, gouache, casein, and other binders, making it a dependable choice for artists who make their own paint and want permanence they can trust.

Key specs

• Colour Index: PR 101 (77491)

• Pigment type: Synthetic inorganic (iron(III) oxide)

• Chemical formula: Fe2O3

• ASTM lightfastness: I (Acrylic, Oil, Watercolour)

• Mean particle size: 1.1 microns

• Oil absorption: about 28 g oil / 100 g pigment

• Density: 5.0 g/cm3

• Heat stability: 504 C

• Iron content (Fe2O3) minimum: 96%

• Size: 100g

Handling and safety
Not considered toxic, but as with all dry pigments avoid inhaling dust and avoid ingestion or prolonged skin contact. Conforms to ASTM D-4236.