Blue hour

The blue hour

The blue hour comes from a French expression (l'heure bleue) which refers to the often magical hour experienced between the hours of daylight and darkness. It is also used to refer to the Paris immediately prior to World War I, which was considered to be a time of relative innocence before the horrors that were to follow.

The time is considered special because of the quality of the light at this time of day and because in the summer this is often when the smell of the flowers is at their strongest.

Another term often used to describe the same time and light quality is the Scottish term gloaming.

Influence in popular culture

As a result of the perceived specialness of this time, around the world there are restaurants, theatres and hotels called "L'Heure Bleue," and there is a women's perfume by Guerlain (1912) of the same name.

The blue hour is also a common theme in popular music and the subject appears in various songs:

Roy Orbison - When The Blue Hour Comes
Turin Brakes - Blue Hour
Stephen Cummings - Blue Hour
Rod Webber - Blue Hour

The blue hour is also the name of:

a novel by T Jefferson Parker
a book by Carolyn Forché
a 1991 film by director Marcel Gisler
the first portion of the 1987 episodic film "4 aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle" by Eric Rohmer.

The Spanish term for the blue hour was inspiration for the name of the Norwegian rock band Madrugada.

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