Magenta: The Color That Doesn’t Exist And Why (2024)

I’m sure you recognize magenta — it’s that color that’s a mix between purple and red. It’s sort of pinkish-purple, and looks something like this:

This would be well and good, except there’s a little problem with the statement above: on the spectrum of light, the color(s) between purple and red are as follows: yellow, green, blue, orange… etc. Instead, magenta manifests itself on the aptly-named color wheel, which illustrates colors fading into one another. Red and purple are the two ends of the spectrum, so on the color wheel, they naturally fade into one another.

So if it doesn’t exist, why can we see it? Again, on the spectrum of elements, all visible colors (and non-visible rays) have specific wavelengths which distinguish them from the other colors on the color wheel. Magenta, because it doesn’t exist on the light spectrum, doesn’t have one. Rather, it’s something our brain creates to fill in space in a way that makes sense.

Usually, when trying to determine color, the brain simply averages the colors to come up with an outcome. If you mix green and red light, you’ll end up with a yellow light because the brain has averaged it. When you mix red and purple light, your brain averages them. Ultimately, this would reasonably come out to green — that’s the average wavelength — but because your brain wants the…