Chrome yellow was discovered in 1809 by Louis Nicolas Vauquelin and quickly adopted by artists as the first truly brilliant opaque yellow since lead-tin yellow (discontinued in the 17th century). Van Gogh's obsessive use of chrome yellow — sometimes applied pure from the tube — has resulted in the darkening of several of his most famous works as the pigment converts to chrome green.

Assertive, warm, and golden. Chrome yellow occupies the warm side of yellow — it edges toward orange and gold. It suggests richness and luminosity. Van Gogh associated yellow (particularly chrome yellow) with the sun's divine energy and the vitality of life.

Van Gogh's relationship with yellow — especially chrome yellow — became one of art history's most discussed colour obsessions. School buses in North America were painted "National School Bus Chrome" (a chrome yellow shade) in 1939 — a colour specifically chosen for maximum visibility. Today its toxicity makes it largely a historical curiosity.