The Eiffel Tower used to be painted yellow.

Repainting the Eiffel Tower, 1932

If you’ve ever wondered whether the color of the Eiffel Tower has its own name, the answer is oui: “Eiffel Tower brown,” which consists of three shades and was chosen for the way it blends into the Paris cityscape. But the iconic landmark has undergone several hue changes since the late 19th century, and was even yellow for a time.

That makeover took place in 1899, when la tour Eiffel, as it’s called in French, received a coat of five colors that spanned from yellow-orange at its base to light yellow at the top. The structure is repainted once every seven years or so, and by 1907 it was entirely yellow-brown. In fact, between 2019 and 2022, in anticipation of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the tower was repainted with the same gold hue it had in 1907.

Other colors the Eiffel Tower has sported over the years include its original hue of Venetian red, which was applied in the workshop before the tower was actually assembled, as well as ochre-brown and brownish-red. Though most of those don’t sound as spectacular as a monument of the tower’s stature deserves, recreations of the colors suggest they were aesthetically pleasing enough for the landmark to somehow appear in the background of every cafe and hotel room in the city.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

It takes between 18 months and three years to paint the Eiffel Tower.

At 1,083 feet tall, the Eiffel Tower is hardly diminutive. As such, all of its paint jobs have been massive undertakings that lasted anywhere from 18 months to three years. It takes longer depending on weather conditions, as painting is impossible when the tower is too cold and the paint itself doesn’t stick when the structure is wet. The process isn’t just about beatification, as an anti-rust primer in the paint prevents oxidation. About 50 specialists carry out the work using 34 miles of safety line and repaint an area of 250,000 square meters (around 2.7 million square feet).