Violet (color)
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Violet is the color of light at the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum. It is one of the seven colors that Isaac Newton labeled when dividing the spectrum of visible light in 1672. Violet light has a wavelength between approximately 380 and 435 nanometers.[2] The color's name is derived from the Viola genus of flowers.[3][4]
In the
Violet is closely associated with purple. In optics, violet is a spectral color (referring to the color of different single wavelengths of light), whereas purple is the color of various combinations of red and blue (or violet) light,[5][6] some of which humans perceive as similar to violet. In common usage, both terms are used to refer to a variety of colors between blue and red in hue.[7][8][9]
Violet has a long history of association with royalty, originally because
Etymology and definitions
The word violet as a color name derives from the
Relationship to purple
Violet is closely associated with purple. In optics, violet is a spectral color: It refers to the color of any different single wavelength of light on the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum (between approximately 380 and 435 nanometers),[16][17] whereas purple is the color of various combinations of red, blue and violet light,[5][6] some of which humans perceive as similar to violet. In common usage, both terms are used to refer to a variety of colors between blue and red in hue.[7][8][9] Historically, violet has tended to be used for bluer hues and purple for redder hues.[7][18][19] In the traditional color wheel used by painters, violet and purple are both placed between red and blue, with violet being closer to blue.[20]
In science
Optics
Violet is at one end of the spectrum of visible light, between blue light, which has a longer wavelength, and ultraviolet light, which has a shorter wavelength and is not usually [citation needed] visible to humans. Violet wavelengths are between approximately 380 and 435 nanometers. Violet objects often appear dark, because human vision becomes less sensitive at wavelengths this short.[citation needed] The reason why to (typical trichromat) humans violet light appears a bit reddish compared to spectral blue (despite spectral red being at the other end of the visible spectrum) is, according to the opponent process hypothesis of color vision, that the S-cone type (i.e. the one most sensitive to short wavelengths) contributes a bit of red to the red-versus-green opponent channel (which at the longer blue wavelengths gets counteracted by the M-cone type).[21] Computer and television screens, using the RGB color model, cannot produce actual violet light and instead mimic it by combining blue light at high intensity with red light at less intensity.
Violet objects are normally composed-light violet. Objects reflecting spectral violet appear very dark, because human vision is relatively insensitive to those wavelengths.[citation needed] Monochromatic lamps emitting spectral-violet wavelengths can be roughly approximated by the color named electric violet, which is a composed-light violet producing a similar effect to the human eye.[citation needed]
Chemistry – pigments and dyes
The earliest violet pigments used by humans, found in prehistoric cave paintings, were made from the minerals
The most famous violet-purple dye in the ancient world was Tyrian purple, made from a type of sea snail called the murex, found around the Mediterranean.
In western Polynesia, residents of the islands made a violet dye similar to Tyrian purple from the sea urchin. In Central America, the inhabitants made a dye from a different sea snail, the purpura, found on the coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The Mayans used this color to dye fabric for religious ceremonies, and the Aztecs used it for paintings of ideograms, where it symbolized royalty.[22]
During the Middle Ages, most artists made purple or violet on their paintings by combining red and blue pigments; usually blue azurite or lapis-lazuli with
In the 18th century, chemists in England, France and Germany began to create the first synthetic dyes. Two synthetic purple dyes were invented at about the same time. Cudbear is a
French purple was developed in France at about the same time. The lichen is extracted by urine or ammonia. Then the extract is acidified, the dissolved dye precipitates and is washed. Then it is dissolved in ammonia again, the solution is heated in air until it becomes purple, then it is precipitated with calcium chloride; the resulting dye was more solid and stable than other purples.
Mauveine, also known as aniline purple and Perkin's mauve, was the first synthetic organic chemical dye,[24][25] discovered serendipitously in 1856. Its chemical name is 3-amino-2,±9-dimethyl-5-phenyl-7-(p-tolylamino) phenazinium acetate.
In the 1950s, a new family of violet synthetic organic pigments called quinacridones came onto the market. They had originally been discovered in 1896, synthesized in 1936 and manufactured in the 1950s. The colors in the group range from deep red to violet in color, and have the molecular formula C20H12N2O2. They have strong resistance to sunlight and washing, and are used in oil paints, watercolors and acrylics, as well as in automobile coatings and other industrial coatings.
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In amethyst, the violet color arises from an impurity of iron in the quartz.
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Chemical structure of pigment violet 29. Violet pigments typically have several rings.
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Manganese violet, a popular inorganic pigment.
Zoology
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The marine hatchetfish (here eating a small crustacean) lives in extreme depths.
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The purple sea urchin.
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The violet carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea) is one of the largest bees in Europe.
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The violet-backed starling is found in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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The violet sabrewing is found in Central America.
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The imperial amazon parrot is featured on the national flag of Dominica, making it the only national flag in the world with a violet color.
Botany
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Crocus flowers.
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Lilacflowers
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Pansy flowers.
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Sweet violetflowers.
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Wisteria blooms are a light violet color.
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An eggplant.
In history and art
Prehistory and antiquity
Violet is one of the oldest colors used by humans. Traces of very dark violet, made by grinding the mineral
More recently, the earliest dates on cave paintings have been pushed back farther than 35,000 years. Hand paintings on rock walls in Australia may be even older, dating back as far as 50,000 years.
Berries of the genus
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Violet and purple retained their status as the color of emperors and princes of the church throughout the long rule of the Byzantine Empire.
While violet was worn less frequently by Medieval and Renaissance kings and princes, it was worn by the professors of many of Europe's new universities. Their robes were modeled after those of the clergy, and they often wore square violet caps and violet robes, or black robes with violet trim.
Violet also played an important part in the religious paintings of the Renaissance. Angels and the
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TheRichard II.
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A violet-clad angel from the Resurrection of Christ by Raphael (1483–1520).
18th and 19th centuries
In the 18th century, purple was a color worn by royalty, aristocrats and other wealthy people. Good-quality purple fabric was too expensive for ordinary people.
The first
In the 1860s, the popularity of using violet colors suddenly rose among painters and other artists.
In 1856, a young British chemist named
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Charles de Bourbon, the future KingCarlos III of Spain(1725).
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In England,pre-Raphaelite painters like Arthur Hughes were particularly enchanted by purple and violet. This is April Love(1856).
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Nocturne: Trafalgar Square Chelsea Snow (1876) by James McNeill Whistler, used violet to create a wintery mood.
20th and 21st centuries
Violet or purple neckties became popular at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, particularly among political and business leaders.[citation needed]
In culture
Popularity
In a European survey, three percent of respondents said violet is their favorite color, ranking it behind blue, green, red, black and yellow (in that order), and tied with orange. Ten percent called it their least favorite color; brown, pink and gray were more unpopular.[14]
Royalty and luxury
Because of its status as the color of Roman emperors, monarchs and princes, purple and violet are often associated with luxury. Certain luxury goods, such as watches and jewelry, are often placed in boxes lined with violet velvet, since violet is the complementary color of yellow and shows gold to best advantage.
Vanity, extravagance and individualism
While violet is the color of humility in the symbolism of the Catholic Church, it has exactly the opposite meaning in general society. A European poll in 2000 showed it was the color most commonly associated with vanity.[32] As a color that rarely exists in nature and so attracts attention, it is seen as a color of individualism and extravagance.
Heian period
In Japan, violet was a popular color introduced into dress during the Heian period (794–1185). The dye was made from the root of the alkanet plant (Anchusa officinalis), known as murasaki in Japanese. At about the same time, Japanese painters began to use a pigment made from the same plant.[33]
New Age
The "
In the
The Invocation of the Violet Flame is a system of meditation practice used in the "I AM" Activity and by the Church Universal and Triumphant (both Ascended Master Teaching religions).
Religion
In the Roman Catholic church, violet is worn by
A stained glass window installed in the early 1920s in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles depicts God the Father wearing a violet robe.[36]
After the
In Hinduism, violet is used to symbolically represent the seventh, crown chakra (Sahasrara).[38]
Politics
In the early 20th century, violet, white and gold were the colors of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, seeking the right to vote for women. The colors were said to represent liberty and dignity.[39][40] For this reason, the postage stamp issued in 1936 to honor Susan B. Anthony, a prominent leader of the suffrage movement in the United States, was colored the reddish tone of violet sometimes known as red-violet.
In 1908, Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, co-editor of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) newspaper, designed the color scheme for the suffragette movement in Britain and Ireland, with violet for loyalty and dignity, white for purity and green for hope.[41][42][43]
The pan-European movement Volt Europa and its national subsidiary parties use violet in their uniforms.[44]
A small New Age political party in Germany with about 1,150 members is called The Violet Party. It believes in direct democracy, a guaranteed minimum income and politics based on spirituality. It was founded in Dortmund in 2001.[45]
Lesbianism
Violet flowers and their color became symbolically associated with lesbian love.[46] It was used as a special code by lesbians and bisexual women for self-identification and also to communicate support for the sexual preference.[47][48] This connection originates from the poet Sappho and fragments of her poems. In one poem, she describes a lost love wearing a garland of "violet tiaras, braided rosebuds, dill and crocus twined around" her neck.[49] In another fragment, she recalls her lover as having "put around yourself [many wreaths] of violets and roses."[50][51]
The labrys lesbian flag, created in 1999 by graphic designer Sean Campbell,[52][53] features a labrys superimposed on the inverted black triangle set against a violet background.[54][55]
Flags
Media related to Purple flags at Wikimedia Commons
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Thesisserou parrot, a national symbol.
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Flag of Nicaragua, although at this size the individual bands of the rainbow are nearly indistinguishable.
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The flag of thesuffragettes(United Kingdom). Purple represents loyalty and dignity, white purity and green hope.
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Wiphala emblem. Official variant flag of Bolivia since 2009
See also
References
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- ^ Georgia State University Department of Physics and Astronomy. "Spectral Colors". HyperPhysics site. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ a b "violet, n.1". OED Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ^ a b "Violet". Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-12-374150-9.
- ^ a b Louis Bevier Spinney (1911). A Text-book of Physics. Macmillan Co. p. 573.
- ^ S2CID 233671776.
- ^ a b Fehrman, K.R.; Fehrman, C. (2004). Color - the secret influence. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.
- ^ a b Matschi, M. (2005). "Color terms in English: Onomasiological and Semasiological aspects" (PDF). Onomasiology Online. 5: 56–139. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
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- ^ Varichon, Anne Colors:What They Mean and How to Make Them New York:2006 Abrams Page 138
- ^ "Meanings of Purple/Violet - Color Wheel Artists". www.color-wheel-artist.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
- ^ a b Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur: effets et symboliques. p. 4. "La plus individualist et extravagant des coulours." (associated by 26 percent of respondents to survey with "extravagance", by 22 percent with "individualism", 24 percent with "vanity", 21 percent with "ambiguity").
- ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York: 1930 McGraw-Hill Page 207
- ISBN 0-7458-0125-0.
- ^ Georgia State University Department of Physics and Astronomy. "Spectral Colors". HyperPhysics site. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ "violet, n.1". OED Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ^ "Violet". Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- .
- S2CID 6200253Figure 2 shows S-cones contributing +0.40 to the "r − g" opponent channel.
- ^ a b Anne Carichon (2000), Couleurs: pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples. p. 133
- ^ Anne Carichon (2000), Couleurs: pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples. p. 144
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- ^ Phillip Ball (2001), Bright earth- Art and the Invention of Colour, p. 84
- ^ Anne Varichon (2000), Couleurs: pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples, p. 146–148
- ^ Lara Broecke, Cennino cennini's Il Libro dell'Arte: a New English Translation and Commentary with Italian Transcription, Archetype 2015, p. 115
- ^ Isabel Roelofs (2012), La couleur expliquée aux artistes, p. 52–53
- ^ John Gage (2006), La Couleur dans l'art, p. 50–51. Citing Letter 554 from Van Gogh to Theo. (translation of excerpt by D.R. Siefkin)
- ISBN 978-0-571-20197-6.
- ^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur: effets et symboliques, p. 167
- ^ Anne Varichon, Couleurs: pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples, p. 139
- ISBN 978-0-85330-142-4.
- dictated through Elizabeth Clare Prophet) Studies in Alchemy: the Science of Self-Transformation 1974:Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Summit Lighthouse Pages 80–90 [Occult] Biographical sketch of St. Germain
- ^ Stained glass window in the Cathedral of the Angels in Los Angeles, California depicting God the Father wearing a purple/violet robe:
- ^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur: effets et symboliques. p. 166
- ISBN 1-894663-49-7p. 24
- Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument. Archived from the originalon 9 November 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
- ^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur: effets et symboliques. illustration 75
- ^ "Dress & the Suffragettes". Chertsey Museum. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ Blackman, Cally (8 October 2015). "How the Suffragettes used fashion to further the cause". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ "WSPU Flag". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
- ^ "The Pan-European Political Movement". Volt Europa. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
- ^ "Die Violetten - Neue Ideen in der Politik". Die Violetten.
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- ^ "Why don't lesbians have a pride flag of our own? - AfterEllen". 9 September 2015. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
- ^ Brabaw, Kasandra. "A Complete Guide To All The LGBTQ+ Flags & What They Mean". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
- ISBN 0-932870-19-8.
- ISBN 1-57958-142-0.
- Ball, Philip (2001). Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Colour. Hazan (French translation). ISBN 978-2-7541-0503-3.
- Heller, Eva (2009). Psychologie de la couleur: Effets et symboliques. Pyramyd (French translation). ISBN 978-2-35017-156-2.
- Pastoureau, Michel (2005). Le petit livre des couleurs. Editions du Panama. ISBN 978-2-7578-0310-3.
- Gage, John (1993). Colour and Culture - Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction. Thames and Hudson (Page numbers cited from French translation). ISBN 978-2-87811-295-5.
- Gage, John (2006). La Couleur dans l'art. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-2-87811-325-9.
- Varichon, Anne (2000). Couleurs: pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples. Seuil. ISBN 978-2-02084697-4.
- Zuffi, Stefano (2012). Color in Art. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-4197-0111-5.
- Roelofs, Isabelle (2012). La couleur expliquée aux artistes. Groupe Eyrolles. ISBN 978-2-212-13486-5.
- Broecke, Lara (2015). Cennino Cennini's Il Libro dell'Arte: a New English Translation and Commentary with Italian Transcription. Archetype. ISBN 978-1-909492-28-8.
External links
- Media related to Violet at Wikimedia Commons