Inspiration in the color magenta.
Learn the history and meaning of the color magenta, the electric purple-red that apparently doesn’t exist.
What is the meaning of the color magenta?
The color magenta is a supercharged shade of reddish purple. With its electric look, magenta color has fascinated mankind for centuries. With numerous natural examples of the color magenta you can find in the flower bed, it's amazing that there’s ever been a debate about whether magenta even exists. Magenta doesn’t have its own wavelength in visible light, though, so it’s actually an optical illusion.
Magenta is an alluring purple-red that brings vivid passion, power, and energy.
The history of magenta.
How can it be that magenta color doesn’t exist?
Magenta is an extra-spectral color. That means the color magenta doesn’t have its own wavelength of visible light. Purple has the lowest wavelength, and red has the highest. Normally, complex colors of multiple wavelengths are averaged out by the brain. The average of red and purple wavelengths, though, would be green. The brain tells us that red plus purple can’t equal green, and so it invents the color magenta as its best guess at what the wavelengths mean.
Magenta color was an early addition to aniline dyes.
Aniline dyes were the first synthetic dyes made in the mid-1800s. The first pigment was mauvine, discovered accidentally in 1856. The creator had such success with the purple dye that many other chemists quickly began work on other colors. In 1859, French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin patented a dye that he called fuchsine. On June 4th of that year, after a French-Italian victory over the Austrians at the Battle of Magenta (in Italy), Verguin renamed the pigment magenta.
The color magenta in printing.
Magenta was first used in printing in the late 1800s. Ever since color printing began, it’s used the combination still seen in printer inkjets: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). A full black inkjet is the staple of a working printer, but if cyan, magenta, and yellow are printed over one another, the combination also makes black. In the red-green-blue (RGB) color system used in television and digital mediums, magenta color is considered a secondary color.
The color magenta across different cultures.
Magenta color inspires surrealism.
As far back as Impressionist artwork of the 19th century, the color magenta was used to surprise the senses. Then, in the 1960s, magenta color was adopted by the psychedelic movement. Forms of nightlife were later adorned with fluorescent magenta in fashion and décor for blacklight soirees. Magenta was also the color of the extra-spectral alien in the 2019 film Color Out of Space, inspired by H. P. Lovecraft’s short story of the same name.
Magenta color holds a place in transportation because of its high contrast.
Because the color magenta is bright and intense, it provides high contrast with its surroundings. Magenta color was chosen as a subway line color in Tokyo and a color of the London Underground as a result. Even in aircraft autopilot systems, each destination path is denoted with the color magenta.
Magenta color also entered politics, the military, and currency around the world.
In Indonesia, the Marine Corps wear a magenta beret seen rippling through the ranks as service people march. In India, the ₹2000 banknote features magenta color. In Denmark, the Det Radikale Vestre party uses magenta as one of its official colors. The color magenta is also used by the Magenta Foundation in the Netherlands to symbolize anti-racism.
How to use the color magenta.
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Tap the psychology of magenta.
The Impressionists of the mid and late-1800s used the color magenta to surprise and evoke emotions. Magenta color can be used the same way today. The color magenta is cheerful and has been shown to inspire interest and optimism. The passion of red dominates while the quiet reflection of blue comes from magenta’s purple influence.
Abundant examples of floral magenta.
The color magenta is seen in nature, particularly in flowers. Beautiful blooms like the orchid phalaenopsis, the geranium sanguinem, the rambler rose, and the common cactus flower all display a bright and beautiful magenta color.
Magenta versus fuchsia.
Magenta color has some overlap with the color fuchsia. Technically, they are both illusions by the brain when red and purple wavelengths are mixed. In print and design, fuchsia has moved to the warmer and redder side of magenta. The color magenta has remained true to a perfect balance between red and purple light.
Combine magenta with other colors.
The color magenta can be combined with pinks or white to enhance its finer side. For a brighter and more youthful palette, magenta color can be paired with bright blues or yellows.
Information about magenta color.
The magenta HEX code picker is #FF00FF. This electric mix of purple and red plays with the senses for instant attention.
The color magenta can be achieved in a RGB space with 255 red, 0 green, and 255 blue. Magenta color can be achieved in a CMYK color space with 0% cyan, 100% magenta, 0% yellow, and 0% black.