Flag of France

France’s national flag is a tricolor with three equal vertical bands: blue at the hoist, white in the center, and red at the fly. The usual rectangular reference is three units wide and two units high. The plain national design has no arms, lettering, stars, or central badge.

Blue belongs at the hoist, the edge attached to the pole or halyard. In the standard front-view illustration, blue appears on the left, white in the middle, and red on the right. Looking at the reverse of the same cloth naturally reverses that visible left-to-right order.

France’s national colors are blue, white, and red. The supplied dark-blue illustration uses #002654, #FFFFFF, and #CE1126 respectively. These are the actual digital fills in this reference, not a universal textile specification enacted by Article 2. Printed and woven flags require an appropriate physical color reference and proof.

French flags have appeared in both darker navy and lighter blue versions. A presidential decision made in 2020 returned selected official displays to a darker blue, and the change was widely reported in 2021. It did not introduce a new tricolor or require every existing flag to be replaced.

The official historical explanation connects blue and red with Paris and white with the monarchy. Their combination emerged during the French Revolution, first in cockades and then in flags. The tricolor consequently represents the nation and Republic, while its individual colors retain those historical associations rather than separate legally assigned virtues.

Liberty, equality, and fraternity are the French Republic’s motto, but assigning one word to each stripe is not the official historical account of the colors. Article 2 identifies both the tricolor and the motto without establishing a stripe-by-stripe correspondence. Treat that popular matching exercise as interpretation, not a prescribed origin.

The ordinary French flag has three equal vertical bands, commonly arranged in a rectangle with a width-to-height ratio of 3:2. On that drawing, each band is one unit wide and two units high. Article 2 of the present Constitution specifies the colors but does not state the outer ratio.

France’s naval ensign follows a maritime convention in which blue, white, and red occupy 30%, 33%, and 37% of the width. A government answer in the Senate confirms this exception and refers to an 1836 measurement table. It must be distinguished from the ordinary national flag’s three equal bands.

The common 3:2 format scales to many sizes, including 90 by 60 centimeters and 150 by 100 centimeters. Each national band remains one-third of the width. These are calculated examples rather than compulsory retail sizes; the mounting system, wind exposure, and material determine practical choices for a particular installation.

The French tricolor grew out of Revolutionary cockades and maritime flags. Blue, white, and red were placed in the familiar order in 1794. White returned during the Bourbon Restoration, and the tricolor returned in 1830. Later political and constitutional changes retained the design while adding new historical associations.

Blue and red cockades appeared in Revolutionary Paris in 1789, and white was combined with them in the emerging national symbol. The story that Lafayette personally created the combination for Louis XVI is traditionally repeated, but official accounts acknowledge uncertainty. A cockade is a wearable rosette, distinct from a rectangular flag.

February 15, 1794 is the key adoption date for the familiar blue–white–red order, with blue at the hoist. In the Revolutionary calendar, this was 27 Pluviôse, Year II. The decision predates today’s Constitution and National Day law; later restorations of the tricolor do not erase that earlier milestone.

White was associated with the Bourbon monarchy and returned during the Restoration after Napoleon’s first fall. The tricolor’s history therefore includes interruptions rather than uninterrupted use from 1794 onward. Following the July Revolution of 1830, the blue–white–red flag returned under Louis-Philippe and remained a central national symbol.

During the February Revolution of 1848, some revolutionaries favored a red flag. Alphonse de Lamartine defended retaining the tricolor, which remained the national emblem. The episode helps explain how a flag that had served earlier regimes continued into the new republic instead of being replaced simply because the government changed.

A tricolor bearing the Cross of Lorraine is associated with Free France and resistance during the Second World War. The symbol was adopted in the Free French naval setting in 1940 and appeared in several forms. It is a historical addition, not part of today’s plain three-band national flag.

The French flag developed through Revolutionary political decisions and earlier tricolor symbols, rather than through a securely documented single inventor. Jacques-Louis David is traditionally linked to the arrangement adopted in 1794, but the Élysée describes that attribution as a legend. Lafayette’s cockade association is also different from designing the finished flag.

Begin with three equal vertical bands and keep blue at the attachment edge. Preserve the chosen outer proportions and keep the plain national design free of added emblems. For physical production, confirm the required color reference, fabric, seams, and fittings with the supplier; a monitor image alone cannot certify textile colors.

The ordinary French national flag is the plain blue–white–red tricolor. Military unit colors, historical Free France flags, naval ensigns, and other institutional standards can have particular markings or proportions. Those distinct objects should not be presented as optional decorations on a general national flag or as one interchangeable coat-of-arms version.

Official instructions govern flag display on public buildings for national ceremonies, visits by foreign heads of state, and mourning. These directions are transmitted through the state’s administrative chain. Schools also have specific statutory requirements. Outside such obligations, local authorities can initiate displays, while private buildings may be decorated voluntarily.

France’s National Day is July 14, established as an annual national holiday by the law of July 6, 1880. Its historical explanation embraces both the storming of the Bastille in 1789 and the Festival of the Federation in 1790. It is distinct from the flag-order decision of February 15, 1794.

French flag displays accompany National Day and a wider calendar of commemorations, including May 8 and November 11. The defense ministry’s recurring commemorative calendar contains eleven national occasions, with an additional customary tribute to Jean Moulin. Instructions for each occasion determine public-building display; this is not a universal private-household schedule.

French education law requires the national and European flags, together with the Republic’s motto, on the facades of public schools and secondary schools and their contracted private counterparts. A separate provision covers classroom displays, including both flags, the motto, and the national anthem’s words. These are specific educational requirements.

The defense ministry’s public-building guide places the French flag in the position of honor, to the viewer’s right when facing the building, with the European flag on the viewer’s left. That viewpoint matters: heraldic and observer descriptions can differ. More complicated groups of flags need the applicable event arrangement.

For the ordinary horizontal flag, keep blue at the hoist and red at the free outer edge. The standard front-view drawing reads blue, white, red from left to right. A reverse view is naturally mirrored. For a vertical hanging installation, confirm the intended attachment and viewing arrangement before preparing the textile.

Flag raising can form part of a ceremony with commands, music, and respectful attention from those present. The precise sequence depends on the institution and occasion. The national-service ceremony guide describes careful handling and coordinated raising, but a particular youth or military sequence should not be imposed on every civilian display.

There is no single everyday clock schedule established here for every French private flag. Public-building instructions specify the relevant occasion, and government guidance recommends installing commemorative displays the previous evening and removing them the following day. Military colors and organized ceremonies follow their own schedules, which should not be generalized nationwide.

French civil guidance describes lowering the flag to about the middle of its mast for mourning. If lowering is technically impossible, a black ribbon is tied at the top of the mast. Official instructions determine the occasion and duration; local authorities can also initiate mourning displays within their responsibilities.

Half-mast display concerns the flag on a mast, while a flag-covered coffin is a separate funeral honor. Eligibility and arrangements depend on the relevant funeral or institutional rules. A building’s mourning instruction should not be treated as automatic authorization for every ceremonial use of the tricolor at a funeral.

French criminal law protects the national flag in specified circumstances. One provision covers public outrage at events organized or regulated by public authorities; another covers certain intentional degrading acts liable to disturb public order. The legal conditions matter, so it is inaccurate to describe every criticism or misuse as the same automatic offense.

Reproducing a simple flag image and registering a flag-based trademark are different questions. The Paris Convention protects state flags against unauthorized use or registration as trademarks, while other national-symbol and advertising rules may apply. Public-domain artwork does not establish official endorsement or guarantee that a particular commercial mark is acceptable.

Keep the flag clean, intact, and securely attached, replacing a badly faded or damaged example when appropriate. Follow the manufacturer’s washing and drying instructions and store the cloth dry. A historically significant flag may require conservation advice. Practical care should not be confused with an invented universal French folding or disposal ritual.

France uses vertical blue, white, and red bands. Italy also has vertical bands but uses green at the hoist instead of blue. The Netherlands has horizontal bands, with red above white above blue. Compare both color and direction; rotating the French flag does not produce an accurate Dutch reference.

The historical photograph shows a French tricolor at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on August 26, 1944, after liberation. The contemporary image shows French and European flags at a Paris press appearance on April 2, 2024. Both document real use, while fabric folds and lighting limit geometric or color comparisons.

The France flag emoji is 🇫🇷, formed from the regional indicator letters F and R: U+1F1EB and U+1F1F7. Its appearance depends on the platform, application, and font. Some systems show the letters instead of a flag; use the supplied SVG or PNG when accurate geometry and colors are required.

Common mistakes include putting red at the hoist, using horizontal bands, treating the naval proportions as the ordinary national design, and assigning a constitutional virtue to each stripe. Other errors confuse July 14 with the 1794 adoption decision or describe the recent darker presidential blue as an entirely new national flag.

The page provides a scalable national SVG, a 3600-by-2400 PNG, construction and comparison sheets, a naval ensign drawing, a Free France historical reconstruction, and display diagrams. It also includes two documented photographs. Each gallery subject has a caption, plain-text credit, and a download hosted within the same website.

The French flag is commonly called the tricolor, or le drapeau tricolore in French, referring to its three colors. The expression bleu, blanc, rouge names their order. These descriptive terms identify the national emblem; they do not mean that every three-colored flag elsewhere is a version of France’s flag.

The plain French national flag contains only its three vertical color bands. Marianne, the Gallic rooster, the republican emblem, and military inscriptions belong to other symbols or particular uses. Adding any of them changes the plain reference and should not be presented as a required part of the ordinary national flag.

No. The government’s explanation distinguishes the naval ensign from the commissioning pennant. It gives the ensign as 30% blue, 33% white, and 37% red, but the pennant’s color lengths as 20%, 20%, and 60%. Those allocations concern different maritime objects and should not be mixed into the national flag’s equal thirds.

February 15 marks the 1794 decision establishing the familiar flag order. France’s National Day is July 14, under the 1880 law. The official sources reviewed here do not establish February 15 as a separate recurring national Flag Day, so the adoption anniversary should not be labeled as one.

No. The Paris photograph dates to August 26, 1944, long after the tricolor’s 1794 adoption milestone. It records celebrations after the city’s liberation and shows the flag in historical use. The image date, the liberation event, and the original flag decision are separate facts that should not be combined.

The Revolutionary decision of February 15, 1794 fixed the order with blue at the hoist, white in the middle, and red at the fly. That documented arrangement explains today’s identification rule. Claims that the position was chosen for one specific psychological effect or modern political slogan require separate evidence.

No. The French tricolor remains the national emblem. The European flag can accompany it, and French schools have specific requirements for displaying both. Government protocol also addresses Europe Day on May 9. Joint display represents separate national and European symbols, rather than a replacement or a fourth color added to France’s flag.