Meanings
- uncountableThe elimination or reduction of colorfulness for religious reasons.
There is no clear evidence that the polychromy of altarpieces was at that stage wilfully removed or overpainted, which would suggest chromoclasm, a term coined by Michel Pastoureau.
2014, Hannelore Hägele, The Eye and the Beholder, page 752 more examples
The preference for sombre, dark clothing does not only reflect "bourgeois" values, but also what Pastoreau characterises as the "chromoclasm" or "war against colour" being an important dimension in the new Christian morals of Protestantism - in fact, Pastoureau actually links this "chromoclasm" explicitly to the distinct cultural opposition between black and white and colour in cinema.
2006, Eirik Frisfold Hanssen, Early Discourses on Colour and CinemaProtestant chromoclasm, whether Lutheran or Calvinist, involved the church and the worship service first of all. For the great reformers, the presence of color was excessive there; it had to be reduced or eliminated.
2019, Michel Pastoureau, tr. Jody Gladding, Yellow: The History of a Color, page 140
Origin
Coined by Michel Pastoureau as Blend of chroma + iconoclasm
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
chromoclasm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chromoclasm
“chromoclasm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chromoclasm. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chromoclasm,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chromoclasm.
Source: chromoclasm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.