The usual answer is red plus blue, and that is true in both paint and light. The catch in paint is which red: a red that leans toward orange pulls the mix toward a muddy, brownish purple.
The paint table compares an orange-leaning red with a pinker magenta, so you can see the difference.
CSS purple is a mid-dark purple halfway between red and blue light. Other CSS purples are listed for comparison.
In paint
In our paint model, magenta with blue lands much closer to a clean purple than our red with blue. Adding white lightens it toward lavender; adding black deepens it.
Closest two-paint mixes
- += 55% Violet + 45% Magenta #7E227E · ΔE 3.1 from purple
- += 30% Blue + 70% Magenta #7A257E · ΔE 3.4 from purple
- += 80% Magenta + 20% Cyan #762D80 · ΔE 4.9 from purple
- += 15% Red + 85% Violet #5E2C71 · ΔE 8.0 from purple
- += 60% Magenta + 40% Black #7E2463 · ΔE 8.1 from purple
Equal parts
- += Red + Blue #502F40 · ΔE 18.6 from purple
- += Magenta + Blue #4E2785 · ΔE 11.0 from purple
- += Magenta + Cyan #50429F · ΔE 16.0 from purple
ΔE is the CIEDE2000 color difference between the mix and purple. Zero means the same color; the smaller the number, the closer the mix.
In light
On a screen, purple is red and blue light together with the green lamp off, at about half brightness.
The three lamps at these levels give #810081. Levels are the amount of light each lamp gives out, which is not the same scale as the 0–255 numbers in a color code; the method page shows the conversion.
Wheel pairings
A yellow-green sits opposite this purple on the painter's wheel. Because the rule keeps lightness, a dark purple gets a dark partner.
| Rule | Painter's wheel | OKLCH wheel |
|---|---|---|
| Complementary +180° | #608000 2.06:1 | #00620F 1.24:1 |
| Analogous -30° +30° | #400080 1.46:1#80002B 1.14:1 | #5E21A6 1.01:1#94004C 1.06:1 |
| Triadic +120° +240° | #805000 1.37:1#008040 1.87:1 | #654800 1.11:1#005A68 1.19:1 |
| Split-complementary +150° +210° | #807000 1.90:1#208000 1.86:1 | #485500 1.15:1#005E4E 1.22:1 |
Purple mixed with each paint
Start from purple (#800080) and add one of our ten stand-in paints. Shares are by amount, in our paint model.
| Add | 75% purple + 25% | 50% purple + 50% | 25% purple + 75% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | #88105D | #A71B3C | #C71F30 |
| Yellow | #9D2E51 | #D45D45 | #F49F39 |
| Blue | #610B83 | #3E168E | #2B2D9C |
| Orange | #93234E | #C44439 | #E8712B |
| Green | #621F66 | #4E394E | #456146 |
| Violet | #7B0380 | #6B1082 | #5F2383 |
| Magenta | #87037F | #A10F7C | #BB177A |
| Cyan | #501A8E | #4737B0 | #3D6DC5 |
| White | #A61CA4 | #DC5BD5 | #F7A8ED |
| Black | #700D6F | #461744 | #251823 |
Named purples in CSS
| CSS name | Swatch | Code | ΔE from this page's purple |
|---|---|---|---|
| purple | #800080 | 0.0 | |
| rebeccapurple | #663399 | 9.6 | |
| darkviolet | #9400D3 | 12.7 |
Paint results come from a pigment model and our ten stand-in paints, not from real tubes, which vary by brand and pigment. Try any pair in the color mixer, or read how each swatch is worked out.