MAGENTA


'Magenta' is a purple color that can be made from a mixture of red and blue light. It is a pure chroma on the color wheel midway between violet and rose.
In popular usage, the term magenta itself can be used to indicate a variety of colors.
Magenta is not a spectral but an ''extraspectral'' color: it cannot be generated by light of a single wavelength[1].

Contents
History of the discovery of magenta dye
Historical development of magenta
Rich magenta (original variation) (1860)
Process magenta (pigment magenta; printer's magenta) (1890s)
Electric magenta (additive secondary magenta) (web color fuchsia) (1990s)
Electric magenta vs. pigment magenta
Additional variations of magenta
Pale Magenta (Light Fuchsia Pink)
Light Magenta (Fuchsia Pink)
Ultra Pink
Inkjet magenta
Shocking pink
Hot Magenta
Deutsche Telekom Magenta (T-Mobile Magenta)
Sky Magenta
Deep magenta
Dark magenta (web color)
Magenta on the color wheel
Magenta in human culture

★ Shades of the color magenta are often used in advertising because of their bright, eye-catching nature.
References
See also
External links

History of the discovery of magenta dye


Magenta was one of the first aniline dyes, discovered shortly after the Battle of Magenta (1859), which occurred near the town of Magenta in northern Italy.[2]
The color was originally called 'fuchsine' or 'roseine', but for marketing purposes in 1860 the color name was changed to ''magenta'' after the battle. Hence, the color is named indirectly after the town.

Historical development of magenta


Rich magenta (original variation) (1860)

Before ''printer's magenta'' was invented in the 1890s for CMYK printing, and ''electric magenta'' was invented in the 1980s for computer displays, these two artificially engineered colors were preceded by the color displayed at right, which is the color originally called ''magenta'' made from coal tar dyes in the year 1859.[3]
Besides being called 'original magenta', it is also called 'rich magenta' to distinguish it from the colors ''electric magenta'' and ''printer's magenta'' shown below.
This color corresponds to the Prismacolor colored pencil ''magenta''.
Process magenta (pigment magenta; printer's magenta) (1890s)

In color printing, the color called 'process magenta,' or 'pigment magenta,' or 'printer's magenta' is one of the three primary pigment colors which, along with yellow and cyan, constitute the three subtractive primary colors of pigment. (The secondary colors of pigment are blue, green, and red.) As such, the hue magenta, is the complement of green: magenta pigments absorb green light; thus magenta and green are opposite colors.
The CMYK printing process was invented in the 1890s, when newspapers began to publish color comic strips.
Process magenta is not an RGB color, and there is no fixed conversion from CMYK primaries to RGB. Different formulations are used for printer's ink, so there can be variations in the printed color that is pure magenta ink. A typical formulation of ''process magenta'' is shown in the color box at right. The source of the color shown at right is the color magenta that is shown in the diagram located at the bottom of the following website offering tintbooks for CMYK printing: [2]. A printer’s magenta is usually out of gamut on a computer display, so the color at right is only an approximation.
In Prismacolor colored pencils, this color (Prismacolor PC 994) is called 'process red' (it would have been more accurate to call it 'process magenta'). The Prismacolor colored pencil ''process red'' color is not quite as saturated as the color ''process magenta'' shown above.
Electric magenta (additive secondary magenta) (web color fuchsia) (1990s)

'Electric magenta', shown at the right, is one of the three secondary colors in the RGB color model. For computer color rendition, that specific hue of magenta composed of equal parts of red and blue light was termed the web color fuchsia and was assigned as an alias for the RGB code of magenta on a list of standardized web colors. "Electric" magenta and 'fuchsia' are exactly the same color. Sometimes ''electric magenta'' is called ''electronic magenta''.
The color fuchsia is named after the color of the flowers of the Fuchsia plant, named after Leonhart Fuchs, although most of the flowers of the plant are not quite so bright.

Electric magenta vs. pigment magenta


Note that while both of these colors are called ''magenta'' they are actually substantially different from one another. Printer's (or pigment) magenta (the color used for magenta printing ink) is much less vivid than the color electric magenta achievable on a computer screen--indeed, CMYK printing technology cannot accurately reproduce pure magenta as described above as electric magenta (1/2 100% blue light + 1/2 100% red light=magenta) on paper. To see the difference between electric magenta and printer's magenta, compare the two magentas (additive and subtractive) in the two charts in the Primary colors article.
When electric magenta is reproduced on paper, it is called fuchsia and it is physically impossible for it to appear on paper as vivid as on a computer screen. In order to reproduce it, a small amount of cyan printer's ink must be added to printer's magenta to make fuchsia, and therefore fuchsia is not a primary color of pigment--it is the color of printer's magenta that is one of the primary colors of pigment (along with cyan and yellow).
The name fuchsia was chosen as the alias for electric magenta because that is the color name for the color that in printed reproduction is its equivalent.
Since prior to the introduction of personal computers magenta was synonymous with printer's magenta, colored pencils and crayons called "magenta" are usually colored the color of ''process magenta'' (''printer's magenta'') shown above.

Additional variations of magenta


Pale Magenta (Light Fuchsia Pink)

Displayed at right is the color 'pale magenta'.
This color is also called 'light fuchsia pink'.
Light Magenta (Fuchsia Pink)

Displayed at right is the color 'light magenta'.
This color is also called 'fuchsia pink'.
Ultra Pink

Displayed at right is the color 'ultra pink'.
This is a Crayola crayon color formulated in 1972. In 1990 the name was changed in error to ''shocking pink''; however, properly speaking, the name ''shocking pink'' should be reserved for only the original shocking pink invented by Elsa Schiaparelli in 1936 (shown below).
Inkjet magenta

'Inkjet magenta' is a variation of the ''process magenta'' shown above that is used in many inkjet printers.
Shocking pink

'Shocking Pink', (also sometimes called ''neon pink'') is bold and intense. Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli formulated this color in 1936, naming it ''shocking pink''; it was the color of the box her perfume called ''Shocking Pink'' came in (the box was shaped like the torso of film star Mae West).
Hot Magenta

Displayed at right is the color 'hot magenta'.
This color was created by Crayola in 1972.
In 1990, Crayola began producing a crayon called 'purple pizzaz' which is exactly the same color. Why Crayola wants to have two different crayons in its box that are differently named but the same color is unclear. See the List of Crayola crayon colors.
Deutsche Telekom Magenta (T-Mobile Magenta)

Displayed at right is the color 'Deutsche Telekom magenta', otherwise known as 'T-Mobile Magenta'. This is the color of their new magenta cellular phone, which debuted in February 2007.
The source of this color is the following website: [3]
Sky Magenta

Displayed at right is the color 'sky magenta'. This color was one of the colors in the set of ''Venus Paradise'' colored pencils, a popular brand of colored pencils in the 1950s. This color was sampled directly from the image of the actual colored pencil in a picture of a set of Venus colored pencils for sale on eBay.
This color is also called 'medium lavender'.
Deep magenta

Displayed at right is the color 'deep magenta'.
Dark magenta (web color)

Displayed at right is the web color 'dark magenta'.

Magenta on the color wheel


If the visible spectrum is wrapped to form a color wheel, magenta (additive secondary) appears midway between red and blue:


Magenta in human culture


===Advertising


★ Shades of the color magenta are often used in advertising because of their bright, eye-catching nature.
Art===

★ Since the mid 1960s, water based fluorescent magenta paint has been available to paint psychedelic black light paintings. (Fluorescent magenta is one of the seven main colors used, in addition to fluorescent orange, fluorescent red, fluorescent cerise, fluorescent chartreuse yellow, fluorescent blue, and fluorescent green.)

★ By the early 1960s, vivid colors in the magenta range became available, and as a result many become aware that magenta, yellow, and cyan make better primary pigments than red, blue, and yellow.
===Astronomy===

★ Astronomers have reported that spectral class T brown dwarves (the ones with the coolest temperatures) are colored magenta because of absorption by sodium and potassium atoms of light in the green portion of the spectrum. To see an artist's impression of a magenta brown dwarf, go to (halfway down the page): [4]
===Cosmetology===

★ About 1977 bright colored hair dyes became available for the first time to hair stylists, and some people began having their hair dyed magenta.
===Fashion===

★ In India, magenta is a very popular color for women's saris.
===Film===

The Rocky Horror Picture Show has a character called Magenta played by Patricia Quinn.

★ In the film Sky High one of the young heroes is called Magenta.
===Food===

Rhubarb is magenta after sugar is added and it is boiled into rhubarb sauce or baked in pies to achieve a flavor similar to sweet and sour sauce.

★ The seeds of Pomegranates, a fruit known for its anti-oxidant properties, are magenta.
===Music===

★ There is a rock group named after the color magenta. See [5]--the website of the rock band Magenta.

★ The first LP by Mink DeVille (leader: Willy DeVille) was called ''Return to Magenta'' (1978).

★ In the lyrics of Savage Garden's first single "I Want You" a reference is made to one of the character's "magenta feelings" (1996).

★ There is a song called ''Maria Magenta'' on the 1973 album Cosmic Wheels by Donovan. [4]
===Parapsychology===

★ To psychics who claim to be able to observe the aura with their third eye, someone who has a magenta aura is usually described as being ''artistic'' and ''creative''. It is reported that typical occupations for someone with a magenta aura would be such professions as artist, art dealer, actor, author, costume designer, or set designer. [5]
===Politics===

★ The color Magenta is used to symbolize anti-racism by an anti-racist group headquarted in Amsterdam, Netherlands. See [6]--the website of the anti-racist organization Magenta.

References


1. "Magenta Ain't A Colour" in Strange but True, Null Hypothesis
2. Battle of Magenta on the Magenta city's official website
3. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 126 Plate 52 Color Sample K12--Magenta (Color shown is color shown above as ''rich magenta'')
4. Lyrics to the song Maria Magenta:
5. Oslie, Pamalie ''Life Colors: What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal'' Novato, California:2000--New World Library Magenta Auras: Pages 44-51

See also



Fuchsia (color)

List of colors

Rose

External links



How the color magenta was discovered in 1859 through research into coal tar (aniline) dyes.

Pictures of actual aniline dye samples in various shades of magenta.

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