Why purple seems so to similar to red? [duplicate]
Purple lights has the highest frequency among all visible lights, while the red lights is the least frequent one. However, purple seems to be a mix of red and blue to human eyes, why?
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asked Apr 5, 2016 at 23:15
nalzok nalzok
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$begingroup$ If I recall correctly, purple paint results from a mix of red paint and purple paint, but purple light does not result from a mix of blue light and red light. Paints and light add colors in a different way. If you want to test this, you can buy plastic colored lenses at your local dollar store and try overlapping them in front of a lamp. $endgroup$
Apr 5, 2016 at 23:57
$begingroup$ This has to do with the chemical and neurological responses of the human visual system (eye and brain). Physically red and purple are as different as any two other wavelengths of light. $endgroup$
Apr 6, 2016 at 0:03
$begingroup$ Possible duplicate of Why does light of high frequency appear violet? $endgroup$
Apr 6, 2016 at 1:32
$begingroup$ Purple is not violet. Violet light is a spectral color, and this is what has the highest frequency visible to the human eye. Purple is a non-spectral color. Purple, and magenta, and a slew of other colors are on the line of purples. $endgroup$
Apr 6, 2016 at 1:34
$begingroup$ I’m voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about visual perception, not physics $endgroup$
Apr 6, 2016 at 3:23
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There are three pigments in the human eye cone cells and combinations of their light sensitivities are the basis of our color vision. These pigments are red, green, and blue. The violet end of the spectrum excites blue pigment only. Less-extreme ‘blue’ perception includes some slight green pigment response.
The color that results from red and blue pigments excited, but no green, is called ‘magenta’.
So, the color we call ‘purple’ can be violet (all blue) or blue-plus-red, hopefully with not much red (that would merge from purple to magenta). On a color ‘wheel’ diagram, the purple area is mainly-blue, but away from the green border and toward the magenta (which is equal blue+red).
colour psychology… the meaning of purple
Historically, purple or violet was only available to royalty and the very wealthy because it was so expensive to make. Psychologically purple communicates spiritual reflection and connection.
Purple or violet is a combination of the power, energy and strength of red with the integrity and truth of blue.
colour symbolism
To make the colour purple it took 12,000 murex marine snails to make just one gram of dye! Given it was so expensive to create purple was associated with royalty as they were the only ones who could afford it. Legend has it the King of Phoenix declared purple to be the royal colour and by being the only ones allowed to wear it, purple became a symbol of royalty. It also made them easily identifiable.
It has since been associated with wealth, luxury and those of high office such as in the church or the very wealthy. In the early 1900’s purple was produced synthetically making it available to everyone and in many varying tones.
Vestments high mass | murex marine snails | Queen Mary’s crown
positive psychological qualities of purple
Purple relates to the higher self, truth and inner contemplation. We associate it with spiritual awareness and inner reflection. A colour for quiet contemplation.
negative psychological qualities of purple
Too much purple or surrounding yourself with the wrong tone in combination with other colours and you could find yourself becoming too introspective – spending a lot of time ‘navel gazing’. It would be easy to lose touch with reality. Using the wrong tone can communicate cheap and nasty, faster than any other colour.
Do you have a favourite purple? How does purple make you feel?
If you found this blog post interesting, you may also be interested in other blog posts relating to the psychology of colour.
