Paint pigments for magical art

Welcome to the world of Magical Maths! Illénie is a Royal Mathematicians who designs new magical devices. When the king notices her and drags her into deadly court politics, it becomes harder for her to hide her chronic pain in a world that looks down on disabilities. Come read about her struggle!
Introduction to the story | Illénie (upcoming) | Novel upcoming

Mathematicians' Wonderful Works: Art Appreciation

Today, let us take a moment to appreciate another wonderful work of our mathematicians and one of the foundational parts of our culture: our Abstract Art!

The art

Abstract art

Milara invented an abstract art style using patterns designed by our mathematicians as a way to show off their skills. This style is a huge source of national pride. The best examples of it are obviously found in the capital and are the work of our Royal Mathematicians. Having the occasion to admire their headquarters and the Royal Palace is well worth the journey!

Recurring patterns

The national emblems: the snowflake and the infinity symbol.

Basic wards designs: lots of intertwined circles.

Complex patterns demonstrating skills, e.g. combining several designs so that they become more than the sum of their part, designs continuing over different types of canvas or different buildings, a device extending from the outside of a building to its inside...

Function

Beauty. To be admired and to decorate.

To show off the mathematical skills of the owner of the art piece or to show off the good relationships they have with the local mathematicians and the money they have to afford their service.

To support some magic such as wards, to build up on the magic already present in the structure of the building, either for normal size buildings or for titanic architecture.

Material

Magic conductivity

All art pieces need to be made with pigments with different magical conductivity. They are used to make stained glass, murals, paintings, but also chalks, ink, cloth dyes, and tattoos. Each are traditionally assigned a specific colours in our country, although mathematician-artists sometimes mix their palette on purpose. Conductive properties come from a mixture of different metals. Those metallic elements come with a natural colour that is adjusted as needed with additives. Organic materials can also be added to the pigments to muffle the conductivity. A few colours also traditionally have a very low conductivity, which gives them a "separator" role; they are used in between other colours to stop or slow the movement of magic.

Examples of conductivity-metal-colour combinations

Black
Silicon
Conductivity 0

Green
Arsenic
Conductivity 1

Orange
Lead
Conductivity 2

Turquoise
Chromium
Conductivity 3

Red
Iron
Conductivity 4

Blue
Cobalt
Conductivity 5

Brown
Magnesium
Conductivity 6

Grey
Aluminium
Conductivity 7

Yellow
Gold
Conductivity 8

Purple
Copper
Conductivity 9

White
Silver
Conductivity 10

Effects

All pigments are humming and vibrating subtly while conducting magic. If the design is not done properly by an expert mathematician, these vibrations can built up on each other and explode spectacularly. In more tame but still dangerous version, the vibrations slowly evaporate the pigments and their toxic components can create a deadly stench.

Come visit Lernée today to be able to admire the best examples of abstract art in the world!

Characters	Illénie Neurisse (upcoming) · King · Aquatirian Ambassador · Office pet
Politics	De Crancé's Political Alliance against the King · Duelling challenges against the King · Royal Council · Royal Scheming Group · Milarian Battalions · The enemy country—Aquatio · The three modern Aquatirian Wars
Duelling	Duelling Arena · Dueller Culture · Duelling Champion titles · Duelling Weapons
Society	Illénie's chronic disease · Milarian fashion · Ableist mindset
Locations	The capital of Milara, Lernée · Royal Mathematicians' Headquarters · Royal Palace · Royal Road Neighbourhood
Maths	Rules of Magic · Royal Mathematicians · Mathematics · Clippable Devices · Titanic architecture · Paint pigments for magical art · Royal Mathematicians' current projects · Royal Mathematicians' Charter
Potions	Potions · Potion-infused candies from the Royal Road shop · Potion ingredients

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Comments

Author's Notes

The magical conductivity of the atoms is based on their electrical conductivity. I chose roughly similar intervals between the conductivity of each of the 11 colours. I chose the colours based on a real pigment that can be made with that atom:
0) silicone with soot inside to colour it, 1) Paris green, 2) Naples yellow (in a more orange shade), 3) chromium oxyde green, 4) red ochre, 5) cobalt blue, 6) magnesium brown, 7) aluminium layer, 8) gold layer, 9) Han purple, 10) silver layer. Sources:

Wikipedia's List of inorganic pigments.

Book: Chromatopia, une histoire illustrée des pigment, by David Coles.

Book: The periodic Table, a visual guide to the elements, by Tom Jackson.

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Councilor of the Inner Sanctum Serukis

Jul 29, 2025 21:15 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

I love when you work chemistry into your articles. :D

Emy x
Explore Etrea | Summer Camp 2025

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