Mocha Mousse: Pantone’s 2025 Color and Its Surprisingly Dark Art History
From Renaissance masterpieces to your morning espresso—how brown went from dirt to deluxe.
Pantone’s Color of the Year 2025, Mocha Mousse (17-1230), is the shade of artisanal chocolate, the rich foam atop a perfectly brewed cappuccino, or, if you’re feeling less generous, the exact hue of your tax-season anxiety-induced under-eye circles. Pantone describes it as “authentic and approachable”—a warm, enveloping brown that whispers quiet luxury and timeless neutrality. But let’s be real: brown has baggage.
Historically, brown was the color of dirt—literally. Renaissance painters, ever the pragmatic artists, sourced their browns from earthy pigments like umber, ochre, and burnt sienna (which, fun fact, gets even richer when you roast it like a marshmallow). These pigments gave us the sumptuous warmth in Rembrandt’s self-portraits, the rich folds of Caravaggio’s drapery, and the moody, candlelit interiors of Vermeer’s domestic scenes. Brown was the workhorse of the Old Masters, but it was also, quite literally, everywhere. Over time, protective varnishes darkened once-vibrant paintings, unintentionally reinforcing the image of Renaissance art as a sepia-toned nostalgia trip.
By the 19th century, the Impressionists had had enough. They called this trend ‘brown gravy’ painting—an insult that suggests both a lack of vibrancy and a dinner gone wrong. Monet and his crew rebelled, throwing caution (and their paint) to the wind with bright blues, luminous yellows, and every pastel hue the tube-squeezing gods could provide. And yet, even Monet had a soft spot for brown, capturing the smoggy, yellow-brown fogs of Industrial Revolution London with a kind of hazy affection. Turns out, brown was inevitable.
If that’s not macabre enough for you, consider Mummy Brown—a once-popular pigment literally made by grinding up Egyptian mummies. Nothing says “art history” like finding out your favorite 18th-century painters were casually brushing decomposed pharaohs onto their canvases. One particularly horrified artist even held a funeral for his paint tubes upon learning their true origins. Talk about commitment.
But brown isn’t all doom, gloom, and questionable sourcing. In the modern age, it’s the color of comfort: steaming hot cocoa, freshly baked bread, your favorite leather armchair. Mocha Mousse, with its rich, delectable undertones, taps into that primal love of all things warm and delicious. It’s the aesthetic equivalent of a deep, contented sigh.
So, is Pantone’s 2025 selection an ode to Renaissance grandeur, the gritty realities of modern life, or just a collective yearning for a giant cup of coffee? Maybe all of the above. Either way, brown is back, baby—and this time, it’s serving sophistication with a side of espresso.