Intro to the purples

The word “purple” comes from the Old English word “purpul,” which originates from the Latin “purpura” and from the ancient Greek “porphyra.” This was the name of the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity. In human color psychology, purple is associated with royalty and nobility because Tyrian purple was only affordable to the elite. Byzantine empresses gave birth in the Purple Chamber of the palace of the Byzantine Emperors. Therefore, being named Porphyrogenitus ("born to the purple") marked a dynastic emperor, as opposed to a general who won the throne by his effort.

Here’s what Russian painter and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) had to say: “Just as orange is red brought nearer to humanity by yellow, so violet is red withdrawn from humanity by blue. But the red in violet must be cold, for the spiritual need does not allow of a mixture of warm red with cold blue. Violet is therefore both in the physical and spiritual sense a cooled red. It is consequently rather sad and ailing. It is worn by old women, and in China as a sign of mourning. In music it is an English horn, or the deep notes of wood instruments (e.g. a bassoon).”

In paintings...

Purples are the shades of color occurring between red and blue. On a chromaticity diagram, the line connecting the extreme spectral colors red and violet is known as the “line of purples.”

Some confusion exists concerning the color names "purple" and "violet.” Purple is typically defined as a mixture of red and blue light, whereas violet is a specific spectral color (approximately 380-420 nm).

Purples can be formed by mixing red and blue pigments, but the first truly violet pigment was cobalt violet, prepared in 1859.

Timeline of purple pigments.

Purples and magentas are “colors” we see, but they do not correspond to pure wavelengths of light. On a chromaticity diagram (a CIE Luv diagram), spectral colors correspond to pure wavelengths of light, and wrap from the top and left ledges. On the bottom right diagonal, the line connecting the extreme spectral colors red (630-740) and violet (380-420 nm) is known as the “line of purples.”

Mimicking ancient methods of purple dyeing with carmine and indigo. On the low hills south of Goshen, New York, a farm with a little flock of sheep hand dyes its own yarn. There is something beautifully real about seeing a snowflake dissolve in a steaming pot of wine red cochineal. They begin with a medium-dark cochineal and over dye it with an indigo to produce a violet, a secondary color.