In the traditional color wheel used by painters, violet and purple are both placed between red and blue. Purple occupies the space closer to red, between crimson and violet. Violet is closer to blue, and usually less intense and bright than purple.
From the point of view of optics, violet is a real color: it occupies its own place at the end of the visible spectrum, and was one of the seven spectral colors of the spectrum first described by Isaac Newton in 1672.
In the additive color system, used to create colors on a computer screen or on a color television, violet is simulated by purple, by combining blue light at high intensity with a less intense red light on a black screen. The range of purples is created by combining blue and red light of any intensities; the chromaticities formed this way line along the "line of purples".
While the scientific definition is clear, the cultural definitions are more varied. The color called purple by the French, pourpre, contains more red and half the amount of blue of the color called purple in the United States and the U.K.. In German, this more reddish color is sometimes called Purpurrot ("purple-red") to avoid confusion.
From the point of view of optics, violet is a real color: it occupies its own place at the end of the visible spectrum, and was one of the seven spectral colors of the spectrum first described by Isaac Newton in 1672.
In the additive color system, used to create colors on a computer screen or on a color television, violet is simulated by purple, by combining blue light at high intensity with a less intense red light on a black screen. The range of purples is created by combining blue and red light of any intensities; the chromaticities formed this way line along the "line of purples".
While the scientific definition is clear, the cultural definitions are more varied. The color called purple by the French, pourpre, contains more red and half the amount of blue of the color called purple in the United States and the U.K.. In German, this more reddish color is sometimes called Purpurrot ("purple-red") to avoid confusion.
