Discover 12 Colors That Represent Peace

White Dove sitting on a tree branch
© Rene Baars/Shutterstock.com

Written by Sandy Porter

Published: September 21, 2023

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What exactly is peace? And how can colors represent such an existential, abstract concept? Colors of peace, as with colors of love or hope or sorrow, may actually help individuals evoke and elicit the very concept of peace or other emotions in the moment, in their lives. Surrounding yourself with colors that bring tranquility or encourage honesty could change lives.

All of these colors have peaceful meanings.

So, let’s look at these colors that evoke healthy, happy, calm, and peaceful thoughts. Let’s come to understand how colors of peace may actually improve mental health and increase calmness.

White: The Universal Symbol of Peace

White Dove sitting on a tree branch

White doves have long been seen as a symbol of peace. The color white is also a symbol of peace in many nations. In fact, it is seen as the universal color of peace.

©Rene Baars/Shutterstock.com

White, a color associated with surrender, peace, and hope, dates back to the early days of Europe. Women wore white dresses as symbols of peaceful protest against wars. The color has become the universal symbol of peace since in many nations and generally is recognized as such.

White also represents cleanliness, purity, virtue, tranquility, and new beginnings in the form of a fresh start or blank slate. Brides have long worn white to symbolize purity and innocence or virtue. White spaces create open feelings and signify harmony.

Blue: The Color of Tranquility

Jacaranda kir above sky

Blue skies, blue flowers, even blue birds or fish all help to evoke a sense of peace for observers.

©zetter/iStock via Getty Images

Stare into a blue field of flowers or piercing royal sea of water for a time, and you’ll feel a sense of tranquility wash over you. There’s a reason for that. Blue is the essence of tranquility, a cool, calm color that helps the soul rest.

The primary color comes in many shades, from pale icy blue to deep, royal or navy shades. But in its purest form, the color, no matter the shade, evokes something primal, yet easy, without effort. The color does anything but confront, rather drawing in the observer with soothing waves of vivid or pale shades. Most folks describe blue as calm, serene, orderly, stimulating, and loyal. Many people choose as their favorite color, likely for these very effects on the mind.

Green: The Nature Evoker

Fringe Cups (Tellima grandiflora). Green flower background in springtime.

Green evokes nature, drawing out a sense of peace in its observers.

©Massimiliano Finzi/Shutterstock.com

Another cool shade of the rainbow, green evokes sensations of nature and natural existence. For many, going out into the woods, sitting by a tree-laced lake, or even lying in the grass brings a sweet, healing sense of calm. For this reason, green is frequently witnessed as a peaceful color that soothes the soul.

Green represents new life, refreshment, abundance, fertility, and hope. The color of growth, green promises a bright future for anyone willing to give into the power of nature. For relieving stress, green promises calmness and harmony.

Pink: For Finding Emotional Health and Peace

black cat bribing with tongue on pink background

Pink helps to soften the mood and emotions. This color of peace indulges the desire for passion without evoking the fiery emotions that red can.

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Sunsets, sunrises, flowers, and happy clothes all come in shades of pink. The emotional color evokes sensations of healing, release, emotional health, and love. The color encourages forgiveness, allowing a letting go of troubles and hurt. Pink also represents sweetness, kindness, and emotional intelligence and understanding. Those who indulge in pink shades often find themselves calmed by the very presence of the bright, energetic, yet calm color.

The delicate, gentle color offers the softer side of red emotions which tend to be fiery and fierce. Instead, pink provides that desired energy while also soothing, softer tones of hope and passion and love.

Purple: The Process of Letting Go and Moving Forward in Peace

Purple Cauliflower close up with green leaves

Purple surprises us in its many places in nature. The sense of completion, closure, and the ability to move forward could come through the power of a plant.

©NLLC/Shutterstock.com

Shades of purple show facets of peace in distinctive ways. From indicating the letting go or releasing of tension, the color also implies moving forward. Spiritual and emotional growth accompany this movement, as endings release and purple merges into completion and closure. Purple is thought of as a power color, one often linked with royalty and prestige. For some, this means strife, but for many the peace of power of one’s own life is more harmonious than anything else could ever be.

Yellow: Offering Shades of Bright Hope and Peaceful Futures

Yellow betta fish, Siamese fighting fish, betta splendens (Halfmoon betta, Pla-kad (biting fish) isolated on black background.

Wherever you find yellow, you’ll find calm, joy, happiness, and freedom.

©Tu.Kulaya/Shutterstock.com

A vibrant, exciting color, yellow emits a warmth that presents feelings of optimism and happiness. Theis positive vibe given off frequently leads to a deep, inner peace unlike none other. The vivid color signals rebirth and renewal, a sense often needed for those seeking peace. It can signify the breaking of old habits, freedom from unhealthy relationships or belief systems, and marking the path forward with hope. You can’t get much more peaceful than the exciting allure of a bright future!

Saffron: A Representation of Peace and Truth

saffron threads with vintage postal scale on grey backdrop

The herbal thread, harvested from crocus, shows us a shade of peace. Saffron has been linked with the peaceful ways of religion, hope, and truth.

©elena moiseeva/Shutterstock.com

Associated with the Dharma Chakra, saffron suggests peace and truth. The color, known as Kesar, dates back to the ancient Middle East cultures in this significant way. You’ll often find this distinctive red-orange shade in clothing, jewelry, furnishings, and more. Frequently, the color is used in these ways to help promote peace and honesty.

Turquoise: The Color of Healthful Peace

Turquoise mineral raw background, beautiful blue calaite stone texture

Whether in water or in stones, turquoise has a sacred quality to it that helps evoke peaceful feelings.

©AkulininaOlga/Shutterstock.com

Studies have shown that calmness and peacefulness help your health. The less stress you find yourself in, the better your life. So, when the color turquoise enters your life, you’re headed toward peace and better health. The soothing, calming color promotes unity, honesty, trust, and order without rigidity. The gemstone itself also represents these things, along with the color doing so.

Turquoise also represents protection and helpful communication. Both of these only add to the sense of peace already offered by the color of turquoise.

Olive Green: A Complex Hue of Calm

Female hepatic tanager perched on a branch with a blurred green background

Olive green in nature evokes a sense of muted calm.

©Justo Camargo/Shutterstock.com

If you’ve ever wondered why olive green regularly returns to fashion and design as a top color, it’s probably because of the complex calm it offers. This has been one of the colors of peace for a long time, offering complex nuance to the concept of peace between many. Some date this back to the offering of an olive branch (which often contained the fruit) as a gesture of peace.

The moderate, soothing tone, though, may simply represent a calm for anyone with its complex shades altering between deeper olive to pale olive greens.

Gray: A Peaceful Release

A fluffy Lionhead rabbit with blue eyes

A fluffy gray and white Lionhead rabbit with blue eyes shows the effects of gray as a peace-making color. There’s something calm and easy-going about the neutrality of the shade.

©Mary Swift/iStock via Getty Images

Neither black, nor white, but somewhere in between, gray helps represent a peaceful release of painful circumstances. As a neutral color, the many shades of gray can help people detach from emotions and look objectively at a painful or challenging situation.

Gray may also represent a purging or letting go or cleansing from bad energy, bad thoughts, or negative emotions. The fact that gray falls between black and white can also help it to represent the peaceful state of balance sought for harmony and inner peace.

Ambiguity may also be found in gray, a vague color on the spectrum that defines neither good nor evil. For those looking for a neutral place to begin, gray may be the perfect pathway to peacefulness.

Orange: The Freedom of Letting Go

Hawaiian hibiscus, Hibiscus kokio flower

Orange radiates warmth, liberation, and happiness. These things rank with contentment, which brings about peace.

©Ward DeWitt/ via Getty Images

Not every symbol of peace represent the kind of peace we’d hear Miss America talking about. In the case of orange, the peace represented blossoms from within when one learns to let go of troubles, anger, and resentment.

The powerful color of orange radiates enthusiasm and warmth, as well as happiness. Often, these are associated with creativity and stimulation, liberation, and emotional freedom. In this case, the primary focus falls on the sense of letting go and the freedom and peace found therein.

Orange represents the negative energy released when resentment, anger, frustration, and troubles are let go of. Like a sunset, a new beginning comes at the end of the “age” of unforgiveness.

Multicolor (Rainbow): A Vivid Spectrum of Peace After Storm

fancy guppy

Nearly anything in nature may come in rainbow or multicolor forms. Even fish! The combination of all the beautiful colors of the rainbow helps evoke peace and balance.

©Karel Zahradka/Shutterstock.com

Technically not a color, the multicolor spectrum or rainbow may also work as one of the colors of peace. Mixing the colors in a pattern offers soothing, restful peace for many, a balance, equitable rainbow for all. The colors of the rainbow as “one color” has long represented peaceful after pain, with both religious and nonreligious overtones of this intent. A literal rainbow represents a clearing, a calm, a peaceful after a storm, which many apply to their spiritual beings and lives.

Summary of Discover 12 Colors That Represent Peace

NumberColorMeaning
1WhiteThe Universal Symbol of Peace
2BlueThe Color of Tranquility
3GreenThe Nature Evoker
4PinkFor Finding Emotional Health and Peace
5PurpleThe Process of Letting Go and Moving Forward in Peace
6YellowOffering Shades of Bright Hope and Peaceful Futures
7SaffronA Representation of Peace and Truth
8TurquoiseThe Color of Healthful Peace
9Olive GreenA Complex Hue of Calm
10GrayA Peaceful Release
11OrangeThe Freedom of Letting Go
12Multicolor (Rainbow)A Vivid Spectrum of Peace After Storm


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About the Author

Sandy Porter is a writer at A-Z Animals primarily covering house garden plants, mammals, reptiles, and birds. Sandy has been writing professionally since 2017, has a Bachelor’s degree and is currently seeking her Masters. She has had lifelong experience with home gardens, cats, dogs, horses, lizards, frogs, and turtles and has written about these plants and animals professionally since 2017. She spent many years volunteering with horses and looks forward to extending that volunteer work into equine therapy in the near future. Sandy lives in Chicago, where she enjoys spotting wildlife such as foxes, rabbits, owls, hawks, and skunks on her patio and micro-garden.

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