So it’s official. Pigment PR206 was discontinued by the supplier. It was used for making Permanent Alizarin Crimson in Winsor&Newton brand, Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet in Daniel Smith brand, and probably a few other colors in other brands. It is also one of the ingredients of Quinacridone Gold in Winsor&Newton and Sennelier brands. That’s quite a shame because it was a non-fugitive alternative for Alizarin Crimson PR83. It was also a transparent alternative for Winsor Red Deep PR264. Well, life.


Why was it discontinued? I have no idea! But I’ve found this possible answer online:

In modern times, the reason for discontinuation is more often that the big pigment users (industrial colorants, automotive and architectural coatings) are no longer using the pigment, and it’s not feasible for the pigment manufacturers to continue production to support the small amount used in art materials.
Source: https://justpaint.org/the-life-of-pigments-in-fine-art-paints/

WHAT TO USE INSTEAD

I used to use Winsor Red Deep PR264 as my dark red. I really liked it. It looks like a dark red color of blood.  I will just come back to that color temporarily when I run out of Permanent Alizarin Crimson. Temporarily, because there’s hope. Read on.

PR264 pigment hides under these names in various brands:
  • Winsor&Newton: Winsor Red Deep
  • Daniel Smith: Pyrrol Crimson
  • Holbein: Pyrrole Rubin
  • Schmincke: Ruby Red Deep
  • Aquarius: Pyrrole Rubine
  • Rembrandt: Carmine
That’s actually a good example of why it’s good to know something about pigments. As you can see in all those brands, this pigment hides under different names, but it’s the same color. So I know that I don’t need nice-sounding Pyrrole Rubin by Holbein, because I already have Winsor Red Deep which is the same.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S HOPE

One of my school members, Rita, wrote to Winsor&Newton and asked about PR206 and alternatives. She kindly allowed me to quote their conversation (thank you, Rita!), so here it is:
ANSWER : We are not discontinuing the Permanent Alizarin Crimson in our Professional Watercolor range but PR206 is no longer available so we are reformulating it with a different red pigment, PR179. It’s the closet color available to PR206.
THEN I ASKED : Glad to hear you are reformulating it. PR179 is Perlyene Maroon, darker and more of brown hue, will it be a lighter more of a true red?
ANSWER : The lab can adjust the hue to be redder and less brown. I haven’t seen actual color samples because the colors that used PR206 are still in transition but the digital color swatches look very close.
Good news. Hopefully it will be very similar. 👍😄

That is interesting, indeed! So they can use PR179 pigment and use some magic tricks to make it look more like Alizarin Crimson. That would be interesting to see. Let’s take a look at those three colors: Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Perylene Maroon and Winsor Red Deep.

I think we all agree that Perylene Maroon PR179 is more brownish than the other two (cause it’s MAROON, right ;). So I’m actually surprised that they say it’s the closest match. I used to use Winsor Red Deep as my dark red, because I thought it was more similar to the original Alizarin Crimson. I also used Perylene Maroon, but I didn’t think of it as my dark red, more like something between red and brown. So it would be really exciting to see the new version of Permanent Alizarin Crimson with tweaked PR179 pigment. If I run out of the current Permanent Alizarin Crimson and the new version is not made yet, I will switch to Winsor Red Deep, waiting patiently for the new alternative.

Actually, I’m really excited about this. I do like Permanent Alizarin Crimson’s hue, however, that paint has one quality that always bothered me a little bit. Or I’m just weird, I don’t know. When I want to pick up that paint from the well, and I add water to it, I always have a feeling that there is some kind of foam and that the color is not strong enough. It could be deeper and darker. I don’t have this feeling with other colors. So I’m curious how the new version will behave.

PO48

Speaking of discontinued pigments, there are a few more, but one that I know many of you love and use is PO48, which is used for Quinacridone Burnt Orange in Daniel Smith brand. I don’t use this color, however, I use something I believe very similar, namely Burnt Sienna (Winsor&Newton). I think they are very close, so if you’re looking for an alternative, perhaps you might like this one.

Having said that, the interesting fact is that I’ve found information from 2015 on the WetCanvas forum. that they knew back then (7 years ago!) that PO48 had been discontinued. 7 years later, we still have access to this color, so I believe that manufacturers bought more supplies.

  • Do you use Permanent Alizarin Crimson PR206? Do you like it?
  • Do you know any other good alternative?
  • Do you use Quinacridone Burnt Orange PO48?
  • Is there a similar color to PO48 in Daniel Smith brand?