Since as early as the Middle Stone Age, humanity has sought to express themselves with art, and it is through the development of paints that individuals have been able to explore and embrace cultural style, the human experience, creative expression, and generations of stories. To better understand how paint as a medium correlates to style and identity, one must examine the manner in which paint is used as a tool of expression– an extension of oneself– and the way its many forms have evolved throughout the centuries. Components such as binding and pigment determine the quality of a paint and to some degree, the value of the artwork it produces. Colors that are higher in demand in certain areas or made from rarer materials are placed at a higher monetary value. Additionally, common visual painting styles vary across different regions of the world depending on the available resources and tools used to create pigments. For instance, azurite was a common mineral ancient Egyptians would grind up to create a range of blue pigments and dyes, which majorly contributed to their color palette consisting of red, green, blue, yellow, white, and black. Contemporary society has always emphasized the power of color in historical art and media through the way that it represents the world and conveys meaning, encouraging creative interpretation determined by both internal and external factors. This essay will focus on dissecting the origins of paint pigments, the distinguishing factors that set apart one art style from another, and lastly, how different elements of color and style have been used to create historically iconic works.