Paint by number was invented in 1950 by Dan Robbins, an artist working for the Palmer Paint Company in Detroit, Michigan. Robbins was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's technique of numbering sections of his canvases for his assistants to paint. Robbins adapted this idea into a commercial painting activity, assigning numbers to different paint colors and corresponding sections of a canvas, allowing everyday people without previous artistic training to create paintings.
The first commercial kits were marketed under the brand name Craft Master, and the concept quickly became a popular hobby in the early 1950s, significantly contributing to the democratization of art-making.
Paint by number kits experienced widespread popularity throughout the 1950s and remain a beloved pastime today.
