Why do traditional color wheels have yellow opposite to violet (purple), whereas graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop have yellow opposite to blue? Yellow opposite violet (purple): Yellow opposite blue:
Mardi Gras Colors
Apparently, most of New Orleans is wrong about the origin of Mardi Gras colors. Yes, they’re purple, green and gold. And in 1892, the Rex parade theme “Symbolism of Colors” gave meaning to these colors. Purple Represents Justice. Green Represents Faith . Gold Represents Power. There’s no denying that.
Since we were kids, drinking weak café au lait on our grandmere’s knees, we’ve been taught that Rex selected the official Mardi Gras colors in 1872 to honor the visiting Russian Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanoff.
Then while researching a book for the 125th anniversary of the Rex organization, famous local historian Errol Flynn Laborde discovered the truth behind these colors. Trust us, it’s too complicated to explain to your friends, especially if you’re watching parades with Bloody Mary’s in hand. So here’s an abbreviated version of why everything from polo shirts and headbands to donuts and king cakes are purple, green and gold this time of year. And why one beloved store that “ain’t dere no more” – K&B – was famous for its purple everything, including cash registers.
The Truth According to Laborde
But let’s get back to the truth. Laborde verifies that the colors of Mardi Gras can be traced to the first Rex parade in 1872. He cites newspapers of the day that included a proclamation from the King of the Carnival deigning that balconies should be draped in purple, green and gold. Unfortunately, the King of Carnival never said why, and, apparently, reporters of the day failed to follow up on the omission.
So we have a colorful conundrum on our hands. While doing research for his book, Laborde and his team took a step back and asked the question, “Why are there three colors for Mardi Gras – why not just one or two?” They came to the conclusion that the Rex founders believed “a king must have a kingdom and a kingdom must have a flag” –and because the United States, Great Britain and France had tricolors flags, so should the flag that flew over Carnival.
Still, why purple, green and gold? The choice of a royal purple seemed obvious. Then, according to “heraldry,” you need both “metals” and “colors.” When it came to metals, gold also seemed obvious for a king. Then, also according to rules that determine coat of arms, there are only five acceptable color choices: Red, blue, purple, green and black. Laborde believes that the final choice came down to purple, gold and green or purple, gold and black. Again, green must have been the obvious pick.
So what do you say when someone asks you what is the meaning of the colors? We recommend you say, “It’s complicated. Have another Bloody Mary.”
BONUS: According to legend, Mardi Gras colors influenced the choice of school colors for archrivals Louisiana State University and Tulane University. They say when LSU was deciding on its colors, the shops in New Orleans had stocked up on purple, green, and gold for the Mardi Gras season. LSU decided upon purple and gold, and bought much of it. Tulane bought much of the only remaining color – green.
Remember: Wear the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold during Carnival whenever you’re not in costume. You’ll get more beads – and that’s a fact no one can deny!
Why is the opposite of yellow on color wheels sometimes purple and sometimes blue?
Why do traditional color wheels have yellow opposite to violet (purple), whereas graphics programs such as Adobe Photoshop have yellow opposite to blue? Yellow opposite violet (purple): 
Yellow opposite blue: 
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asked Jun 15, 2015 at 18:09
Xonatron Xonatron
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One is a subtractive color wheel (CMYK) the other additive (RGB). See here: graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/60/…
Jun 15, 2015 at 18:44
@Scott please post as an answer so we can upvote it. 🙂
Jun 15, 2015 at 18:49
@Scott, both color wheels above describe both subtractive and additive colors. How can this be the answer?
Jun 23, 2015 at 14:57
The top wheel has less colors. That should have been a clue for something, if only because there appear to be multiple ways to draw “the” color wheel.
Jul 12, 2015 at 15:31
6 Answers 6
Sorted by: Reset to default
The traditional wheel is based on pigments. It’s the mix of the primary colors that creates the secondary and tertiary colors in the wheel. That’s your first picture.
The second picture is based on the RGB colors and are colors produced by light; they’re not “mixed” together and technically don’t work the same way as pigments. It might be better to call this wheel a spectrum than a color wheel. By definition they’re not really complementary but opposite.
So in general, when people talk about complementary, they still refer to the traditional model: purple and yellow, orange and blue, red and green.
By the way, that “blue” from the RGB wheel is still very close to be a purple in CMYK; but in RGB, it’s a blue. The violet on the traditional wheel is also a very pale violet. The wheel below is closer to the real traditional color wheel!
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answered Jun 15, 2015 at 18:53
go-junta go-junta
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Both color wheels describe both subtractive and additive colors. How can this be the answer?
Jun 23, 2015 at 15:23
The color gamut is greater with the RGB colors. If you visualize that gamut as a circle, the circle is bigger for RGB, and the opposite color changes position too. Plus, purple is one of those color that isn’t “precise” culturally in term of standards. Interesting from Wikipedia: “One curious psychophysical difference between purple and violet is their appearance with an increase in luminance (apparent brightness). Violet, as it brightens, looks more and more blue. The same effect does not happen with purple. This is the result of what is known as the Bezold–Brücke shift.”
Jun 23, 2015 at 17:04
“when people talk about complementary, they still refer to the traditional model: purple and yellow, orange and blue, red and green” Becouse people does not study modern color theory, but archaic one.
Jun 23, 2015 at 18:23
Thanks for posting Hatt’s color wheel, which is still a good guide to paint-mixing complementaries. I take it that by “closer to a real traditional color wheel” your meaning is that it is closer to a real colorant mixing wheel. Hatt’s diagram is of course an early example of a CMY wheel, and was published by Hatt explicitly as a challenge to the traditional (red-yellow-blue) wheel. Some traditional color wheels do place blue-violet opposite yellow, but more commonly the color shown is a middle purple leaning neither to red nor blue, as expected from traditional color theory.
Jul 13, 2015 at 1:06
A couple of things bother me about the “The Colorist.” First, is the word “proposed,” and second, the mis-spelling of “complementary” in the caption.
Aug 27, 2018 at 5:47
There are different color models which result in different opposites.
One is a subtractive color model (CMYK) — the top image, where the opposite of yellow is purple. This is for real-world, tangible things like paint, ink, etc.
The other is a additive color model (RGB) — the bottom image, where the opposite of yellow is blue. This is for light basically, screens, displays, bulbs, etc.
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answered Jun 15, 2015 at 18:52
Scott Scott
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Both color wheels describe both subtractive and additive colors. How can this be the answer?
Jun 23, 2015 at 14:57
Yeap, I totally disagree with Scott this time. One is substractive colors yes, but with an archaic color wheel concept.
Jun 23, 2015 at 17:30
Whether or not the actual colors are correct, the fact remains one is a subtractive color wheel and the other an additive color wheel.
Jun 23, 2015 at 17:47
Another thing. The additive model is the RGB (add light) and the subtractive model is the CMY (absorb-subtract light).
Jun 23, 2015 at 18:19
Correct @Rafael I did mix those terms. Corrected.
Jun 23, 2015 at 18:25
Becouse that is a color wheel intended for kids. And its roots are older than a modern understanding in color. Some traditional color paletes for painters also use it, again becouse it is a traditional (but arcaic) understanding of it.
The “modern popular understanding” of color comes with 2 inventions: offset color printing for photography, and color tv. Bofore that you could find textbooks saying that the rainbow has 7 colors.
Still, the quality of the pigments for CMYK printing is evolving to achive more consistent colors. Some years ago the combination of 100 magenta and 100 cyan turned into a more violet color. Now the pigments are better but still you don’t achive “pure blue” becouse it is not a linear mathematical proportion.
There are some other color models like Lab that has a scale from yellow to blue and red to green. That aproach is more “organic perception model”. But this color wheel is not that case.
Edited
Imagine how Painting (and painting materials) evolve (Not an acurate historical explanation, but it still works). At the beginning you had some charcoal to paint a cave. Later you had some earth dust with some deer fat and you had some ocre colors.
Years pass and you find some insects or snails to pure pigments from them.
You have some other pigments from combination from metals etc. The point is you had a limited palete of phisical pigments to use. (A timeline of pigments http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/history.html)
Time after, when you explain things to your students, there has being a traditional model to combine existent pigments. The models built back then were perceptual and experience based.
For example the Fuchsine (magenta) dye was invented in the XIX Century. It could not make part of a color wheel before that.
All that slow evolution makes that the color theory and color wheels need to evolve.
Popular perception
If you ask general population or a group of kids without any formal theorical understanding, they will say that the primary colors are yellow, blue and red. And the sky will be sky blue, not cyan, and the magenta will be a bright pink.
But again, the traditional color wheel is simply wrong.
Edited again:
Перевод “purple, orange-yellow” на русский
Completely grown-up tree bears numerous spherical, bright red, purple, or orange-yellow colored fruits depending on the cultivar types.
Взрослое гранатовое дерево приносит многочисленные сферические, ярко-красные, фиолетовые, или оранжево-желтые фрукты, в зависимости от типов граната, которые культивируются.
In our photo galleries you will find some examples of flower arrangements for weddings in autumn warm sand, purple, orange, yellow.
В подборке вы найдете множество примеров букетов невесты для осенней свадьбы в теплых желтых, оранжевых, бордовых и песочных тонах.
The former usually have green leaves, but some varieties also have red, purple, orange, yellow, and silver colored leaves.
Бывший, как правило, имеют зеленые листья, но у некоторых сортов также есть красный, фиолетовый, оранжевый, желтый и серебряный цвета листьев.
Very large (over 16 cm) fully double flowers with somewhat narrow, pointed and variously twisted ray florets; in white and shades of red, pink, lavender, purple, orange and yellow, also bicoloured; borne singly.
Очень большой (более 16 см) полностью двойной цветок с неширокими, заостренными и разнообразно свернутыми расходящимися лепестками; белый, красный, розовый, лавандовый, пурпурный, оранжевый и желтый, также двуцветный; по одному цветку.
Experts say the painting – a largely abstract depiction of a man, a woman in vibrant purples, oranges and yellows – is in miraculously good condition and worth about $1 million.
Эксперты говорят, что картина – абстрактное изображение мужчины, женщины и двуполого существа в ярко-красных, оранжевых и жёлтых тонах – в удивительно хорошем состоянии и её стоимость оценивается в $1 млн.
Additional colors occupy opposite positions on the color wheel and are used to clearly highlight the elements of the site (red – green, purple – yellow, orange – blue, etc.).
Дополнительные цвета занимают прямо противоположные позиции на цветовом круге и используются для четкого, контрастного выделения элементов сайта (красный – зеленый, фиолетовый – желтый, оранжевый – синий и т.д.).
Regular symbols of Starburst comprises of sparkling diamonds presented in blue, green and purple, yellow or orange color.
Обычные символы в Starburst – это сверкающие бриллианты синего, зеленого, фиолетового, желтого и оранжевого цвета.
Tiny fragrant four-lobed tubular flowers in white and shades of pink, purple, yellow and orange; borne in dense terminal spikes.
Маленькие ароматные четырех-лепестковые трубчатые цветы, белые, розовые, пурпурные, желтые и оранжевые; расположены на густых верхушечных колосообразных соцветиях.
The remains of the quaint creatures that inhabited these places, to our time turned into mineralized spots of purple, yellow and orange colors, which now paleontologists restore the events of the distant past.
Остатки причудливых созданий, населявших эти места, к нашему времени превратились в минерализованные пятна фиолетового, желтого и оранжевого цветов, по которым теперь палеонтологи восстанавливают события далекого прошлого.
In fact, in nature there is a purple, pink, orange, yellow and even green sapphire, which has the common name “fantasy”.
На самом деле в природе встречаются фиолетовые, розовые, оранжевые, желтые и даже зеленые сапфиры, имеющие общее название «фантазийных».
With 3 Series, 9FT, 15FT and 5 by 1-Meter, 8 Color Optional, Red, Green, Blue, White, Pink, Purple, Yellow, Orange, 4 Color Kit, 5 Color Kit and 8 Color Kit to Choose from.
С З Серии, 9FT, 15FT и 5 1-Meter, 8 Цвет опционный, красный, зеленый, синий, белый, розовый, Пурпурный, желтый, оранжевый, 4 Цвет Kit, 5 Цвет Kit и 8 Цвет Kit выбрать из.
According to their data, purple, red, orange and yellow coloured flowers caused pulse strengthening and increase in the subject, and changes using the colour red were the most distinct.
По его данным, цвета пурпурный, красный, оранжевый, желтый вызывали у человека учащение и усиление пульса, причем наиболее отчетливыми были изменения при красном цвете.
I try to eat something dark green, dark purple, red, orange, yellow, white, because they all have different vitamins and minerals in them.
Стараюсь есть что-то темно-зеленое, темно-фиолетовое, красное, оранжевое, желтое и белое – витамины и минералы в каждом продукте разнятся.
The matter is further complicated, however, because not only it has many colors such as purple, brown, orange, yellow and green, but it is often sold under the trade name and not the scientific one.
Дело осложняется еще, однако, не только потому, что имеет много цветов, таких как фиолетовый, коричневый, оранжевый, желтый и зеленый, но это часто продается под торговой маркой, а не научное один.
Its four coding units (A, T, C, G) are color-coded in pink, orange, purple and yellow.
Её четыре блока кодирования (А, Т, С, G) имеют цветовую маркировку в розовом, оранжевом, фиолетовом и желтом цвете.
Turkmens are an attention-grabbing people, and this is especially true of the women. Women are garbed in ankle-length garments of silk or velvet, which are commonly a mix of bright oranges, purples, yellows, blues, and greens.
Женщины одеваются в шелковые или бархатные одежды длиной до лодыжек, которые обычно бывают ярко-оранжевыми, пурпурными, желтыми, синими и зелеными.
There are more than 8,000 varieties, ranging in color from white to purple – though yellow and orange varieties are most common, and are the types most strongly linked to lung health.
Есть более 8000 сортов этого овоща, различающихся по вкусу и цвету начиная от белого и заканчивая фиолетовым, хотя желтые и оранжевые сорта наиболее распространены, а также есть сорта батата, которые наиболее тесно связаны со здоровьем легких.
Right from pink to orange to purple to yellow to white, this flower species can give you more color options than a rainbow!
Справа от розового до оранжевого до фиолетового до желтого к белому, этот вид цветка может дать вам больше вариантов цвета, чем Радуга!
It uses three highly luminous diodes (3 watts each), can switch on 8 colors: red, blue, green, orange, purple, yellow, light blue and white, and can easily be charged on any USB plug.
Он использует три очень ярких диода (З Вт каждый), может включать 8 цветов: красный, синий, зеленый, оранжевый, фиолетовый, желтый, светло-синий и белый, и может легко заряжаться от любого USB-разъема.
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