A stick of soft, chalk-like color made from pigment that artists use to create paintings, or a soft pale color.
From French 'pastel,' derived from Italian 'pastello,' which came from Latin 'pasta' (paste). The word originally described the paste-like sticks before being applied to the pale colors they create.
Pastels revolutionized art in the Renaissance because they allowed faster, more spontaneous work than oils—basically the 'quick sketch' medium that let artists capture the world before impressionism made it famous.
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