This research aims to know some of the most innovative aspects of color in composition of postmodern architecture in Europe, approximately between 1960 and 2000. We describe the main chromatic trends in this period following historian JA. Ramirez's formal classification: the new utopias ('60s), neo-illuminist rationalism ('70s), figurative postmodernity ('80s), and deconstructivism ('90s). For each trend, we point out some color composition features; analyze a case study building; and reflect on later influence on contemporary colored architecture. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.