Best Cadmium Red Alternatives According to an Artist

In 2023, Minnesota passed a law that restricts the importing and sale of products containing cadmium and lead. While this law targets a wide scope of everyday use items for the safety of the average consumer, it also targets a very prominent paint that many artists use: cadmium red. Artists all across the state have been scrambling to find the best alternatives as the pigment is pulled off the shelves of art supply stores. But the good news is, there are plenty. Current student known for their use of reds and pinks, Miles Mattingly ’26, provides their recommendations for alternatives to cadmium red.

Who are you? What do you do? What’s your gist?

“I’m Miles Mattingly. I’m a junior fine art drawing and painting major. I work mainly in oil painting, starting this past year, but I've recently dabbled in print making, and I’m taking a water-based media class, which has gotten me much more into my classic drawing roots again. I’m definitely a multimedia artist with a focus on painting.”

How has the ban impacted your work?

“Truth be told, I’m a big cadmium hue user. I do truly love cadmium, but it hasn’t made that much of an appearance in my work. It just forces you to get craftier. If your materials are going to get more limited, I’m kinda going back to like being a kid scrounging up whatever I can find around the house, and then just making random art.”

What are your favorite alternatives to Cadmium red?

“Big fan of Windsor and Newton’s oil paint. They have some really good cadmium hues. Big fan of the cadmium red deep hue and medium hue. There are a lot of red spray paints out there that also don’t have lead in them. Also, inks for sure.”

You’ve mentioned red hues a few times. What are hues?

“Cadmium red hues are as close as you can get to cadmium without there actually being cadmium in it. They are really really good alternatives actually. Like it’s still really opaque paint. There are definitely still some really specific things that the paint itself does that you can’t really replicate, but it’s fine, especially for students. You really can’t tell that much of a difference.”