Historically, blue has been strongly associated with truth. Conroy notes that for much of recorded history, blue's primary association was with truth, a legacy reflected in the phrase "true blue." This connection stems from blue's association with a calm, clear sky – a state of serenity often linked to clear thinking and the revelation of truth.
However, the question of which color "tells the truth" is inherently ambiguous. The answer depends heavily on context and interpretation. Several examples illustrate this:
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Figurative Language: In common parlance, there isn't a color universally recognized as intrinsically linked to truthfulness. The connection between blue and truth is more metaphorical.
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Logic Puzzles: Many logic puzzles involve characters who either always lie or always tell the truth. The color of these characters is often irrelevant to their truthfulness; the puzzle's solution relies on analyzing their statements, not their color. For example, a puzzle might involve a red octopus and a blue octopus, but the color itself doesn't determine which one is truthful (see this StackExchange example).
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Artistic Expression: Art often uses symbolism. While a particular color might represent truth within a specific artwork, this meaning wouldn't be universally applicable. One could argue that any color can convey truth depending on the artist's intent and the work's context (see this Medium article about art's ability to reveal truth through representation).
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Medical Imaging: In medical imaging, color is used to represent data, but it doesn't inherently represent truth or falsehood. For example, "color Doppler splay" in echocardiography is a visual indicator of a medical condition (see this NCBI article), but the color itself isn't directly related to the "truth" of the diagnosis. The image reveals information, which needs interpretation.
In short, while blue has historical links to truth, there is no single color that universally represents truthfulness. The meaning is context-dependent.
