Red-violet is a rich color of high medium saturation about 3/4 of the way between red and magenta, closer to magenta than to red. It is classified in color theory as one of the purple colors—a non-spectral color between red and violet that is a deep version of a color on the line of purples on the CIE chromaticity diagram. Both its saturation and brightness falling short of 100%, red-violet is not a pure chroma. There is a color of similar hue that, however, comes close to being a pure chroma: process magenta. The pure chroma color composed of equal parts of magenta and red is called rose. In the use by artists, red-violet is equivalent to purple, however, although the color "purple" is inaccurately used by many people as a synonym for violet or a color close to violet, professional artists who use the RYB color wheel generally use the term "purple" to specifically refer to a pigment color that is equivalent to red-violet in order to give themselves a larger and more balanced palette of pigments to work with. The Munsell color system also refers to red-violet as purple; in the Munsell color system, this color at the maximum chroma of 12 is called Red-Purple. This convention is for chromatic purposes, since Red-Purple lies between violet and printer's magenta.
Relationship of red-violet to other colors
Red-violet is part of the red "analogous color group", which also includes magenta, red, red-orange, orange, gold, and yellow, i.e. those colors classified as "Warm colors", or colors that produces a feeling of warmth. The color that is the complement of red-violet, mint green, lies halfway between green and spring green. It is very close to sea green, but highly saturated, and of a bright hue. In some traditional usage, red-violet is the name given to an intermediate or tertiary color that, along with yellow-orange and also green-blue, forms a color wheel triad group. Most contemporary usage, however, would list magenta as the name for the tertiary color in question.
Red-violet
Red-violet or pigment purple represents the way the color purple was normally reproduced in pigments, paints, or colored pencils in the 1950s on an old-fashioned RYB color wheel. This color is displayed at right and is identical tothe web color medium violet red. By the 1970s, because of the advent of psychedelic art, artists became used to brighter pigments, and pigments called "purple" or "bright purple" that are the pigment equivalent of became available in artists pigments and colored pencils. Reproducing electric purple in pigment requires adding some white pigment and a small amount of blue pigment to red-violet pigment. Even then, the reproduction will not be exact because it is impossible for pigment colors to be so bright as colors displayed on a computer.
Variations of red-violet
Kobi
At the right is displayed the color kobi. The color namekobi for this light tone of red-violet has been in use since 2001, when it was promulgated as one of the colors on the .
Pink lavender
The color pink lavender is displayed at the right. The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended " color list, color #14-3207 TPX—Pink Lavender.
Puce
Puce is a medium grayish red-violet color.
Pale red-violet
The color pale red-violet is displayed at the right. This color is a pale tone of red-violet.
Violet-red
The color violet-red is displayed at the right. Violet-red, a bright tone of red-violet, has been a Crayola color since 1958.
Red-purple
Red-purple is the color that is called Rojo-Purpura in the Guía de coloraciones by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm. Although red-purple is a seldom used color name in English, in Spanish it is regarded one of the major tones of purple.
Blush
The color blush is displayed at the right. The first recorded use of blush as a color name in English was in 1590. Blush has been a Crayola color since 1998. It was originally called cranberry but in 2005 the name was changed to blush.
Smitten
Displayed at the right is the color smitten. Smitten is one of the colors on the , a color list widely popular in Australia and New Zealand. The color "smitten" was formulated in 2011.
Medium red-violet
Medium red-violet is the medium tone of the color red-violet that is called red-violet in Crayola crayons. Red-violet has been a Crayola color since 1930.
Fandango
Displayed at the right is the color fandango.
The first recorded use of fandango as a color name in English was in 1919.
Flirt
At the right is displayed the color flirt. The first recorded use of flirt as a color name in English was in 1928. In 2001 "flirt" was included as one of the colors on the .
Popstar
Displayed at the right is the color popstar. Popstar is one of the colors on the , a color list widely popular in Australia and New Zealand. The color "popstar" was formulated in 2006.
Jazzberry jam
The color jazzberry jam is displayed at the right. This color, a deep shade of red-violet, was formulated by Crayola crayons in 2003.
Wine
At the right is displayed the color wine. The color wine is a representation of the average color of red wine. The first recorded use of wine as a color name in English was in 1705.
Byzantium
The color Byzantium is displayed at the right. The first recorded use of byzantium as a color name in English was in 1926.
Eggplant
Eggplant is a dark purple, or purplish brown, color that resembles the color of the outer skin of European eggplants. Another name for the color eggplant is aubergine. The first recorded use of eggplant as a color name in English was in 1915. The dark grayish-red-violet color shown in the color box as eggplant was introduced by Crayola in 1998.
Wrapping the spectrum into a color wheel
If the visible spectrum is wrapped to form a color wheel, red-violet appears midway between red and magenta:
