International audience The tricolour flag —white for the monarchists, red of the revolutionaries, blue of the republicans : political power sets up its colours during the 19th century. From a lexicographic perspective, it has seemed pertinent to explore the way the colour/politics couple functions within a set of some fifteen novels, mostly based in Paris, dated 1869 to 1897, all digitalised in the Frantext database. Among the colours of politics, black, white, blue, green, yellow and especially red, stand out ; the latter’s semantic richness has remarkable expressive range. Whether related to Empire, Republic or Revolution, red is the dominant colour, either alone or in association with the afore-mentioned colours.