France’s national emblem is a vertical tricolor of three equal bands: blue at the hoist, white in the center, and red at the fly.
Specification
Article 2 of the Constitution defines the national emblem as the blue, white, and red tricolor. The constitutional tradition specifies equal vertical bands, while no single ratio governs every physical use. A 2:3 rectangle is the common civil representation.
Display colors
HEX #000091 / contemporary screen referenceHEX #E1000F / contemporary screen referenceConstruction notes
Divide the fly into three equal vertical rectangles. Blue touches the hoist; red forms the free edge. Naval ensigns can use optical adjustments that make the fly-side bands unequal, so they belong in a separate maritime record.
Historical record
The colors emerged from the French Revolution. The Convention fixed the now-familiar blue-at-the-hoist arrangement on 15 February 1794. After interruptions under restored monarchies, the tricolor returned in 1830 and remained the republican national emblem.
Source trail
Élysée: constitutional description of three equal vertical bands ↗
Scope of the constitutional evidence
The imported section’s unqualified reference to Article 2 needs a dated context. Article 2 of the supplied Constitution of 27 October 1946 explicitly describes three equal vertical bands in blue, white and red. This supports the historical constitutional wording; it does not by itself verify an equal-band requirement under the current Constitution.
The supplied Élysée account, Le drapeau français, supports the blue-white-red arrangement through its account of the decree of 15 February 1794: blue nearest the pole, white in the middle and red at the free edge. It also identifies Article 2 of the Fifth Republic’s Constitution as the provision defining the national emblem. These references distinguish historical equal-band wording from the page’s general reference to Article 2; they should not be combined into an unqualified claim about current construction requirements.
Screen colors and manufacturing specifications
The displayed blue #000091 and red #E1000F are labeled contemporary screen references. They are display approximations, not established universal textile or manufacturing specifications. Neither the supplied 1946 constitutional text nor the Élysée flag history establishes these exact HEX values as mandatory flag colors. The specimen and color components should therefore be read as visual references, not as a certified production standard.
Understanding the construction
The hoist is the edge attached to the flagpole; the fly is the free edge opposite it. In the representation described here, blue is nearest the pole, white is in the middle and red is at the free edge.
For this equal-band representation, divide the flag’s full horizontal width into three equal vertical bands. The 1:1:1 relationship compares the widths of those bands. The customary 2:3 ratio recorded here compares the overall flag’s height with its width; it is a separate measurement. This explains the imported instruction to “divide the fly” without making equal widths or the customary overall ratio universal requirements. The imported qualification about maritime optical adjustments still applies.