Complementary colors

Complementary colors are pairs of colors which, when combined or mixed,

cancel each other out (lose hue) by producing a grayscale color like white or
black.[1] When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for
those two colors. Complementary colors may also be called "opposite colors."

Which pairs of colors are considered complementary depends on the color

theory one uses:

Modern color theory uses either the RGB additive color model or the
CMY subtractive color model, and in these, the complementary pairs
are red–cyan, green–magenta, and blue–yellow.
In the traditional RYB color model, the complementary color pairs
are red–green, yellow–purple, and blue–orange.
Opponent process theory suggests that the most contrasting color
pairs are red–green, and blue–yellow.

Contents
In different color models Complementary colors in the RGB
Traditional color model color model.
Colors produced by light
Color printing
In theory and art
In color theory
In art
Afterimages
Practical applications
See also
References
Notes and citations

In different color models

Traditional color model

The traditional color wheel model dates to the 18th century and is still used by
many artists today. This model designates red, yellow and blue as primary colors Complementary colors in the
with the primary–secondary complementary pairs of red–green, blue-orange, and traditional RYB color model.
yellow–purple.[2]

In this traditional scheme, a complementary color pair contains one primary color (yellow, blue or red) and a secondary color
(green, purple or orange). The complement of any primary color can be made by combining the two other primary colors. For
example, to achieve the complement of yellow (a primary color) one could combine red and blue. The result would be purple,
which appears directly across from yellow on the color wheel.[3] Continuing with the color wheel model, one could then combine
yellow and purple, which essentially means that all three primary colors would
be present at once. Since paints work by absorbing light, having all three
primaries together produces a black or gray color (see subtractive color). In more
recent painting manuals, the more precise subtractive primary colors are
magenta, cyan and yellow.[4]

Complementary colors can create some striking optical effects. The shadow of
an object appears to contain some of the complementary color of the object. For
example, the shadow of a red apple will appear to contain a little blue-green.
This effect is often copied by painters who want to create more luminous and
realistic shadows. Also, if you stare at a square of color for a long period of time
(thirty seconds to a minute), and then look at a white paper or wall, you will
Complementary colors in the
briefly see an afterimage of the square in its complementary color.
opponent process theory

Placed side-by-side as tiny dots, in partitive color mixing, complementary colors

appear gray.[5]

Colors produced by light

The RGB color model, invented in the 19th century and fully developed in the 20th century, uses combinations of red, green, and
blue light against a black background to make the colors seen on a computer monitor or television screen. In the RGB model, the
primary colors are red, green, and blue. The complementary primary–secondary combinations are red–cyan, green–magenta, and
blue–yellow. In the RGB color model, the light of two complementary colors, such as red and cyan, combined at full intensity,
will make white light, since two complementary colors contain light with the full range of the spectrum. If the light is not fully
intense, the resulting light will be gray.

In some other color models, such as the HSV color space, the neutral colors (white, greys, and black) lie along a central axis.
Complementary colors (as defined in HSV) lie opposite each other on any horizontal cross-section. For example, in the CIE 1931
color space a color of a "dominant" wavelength can be mixed with an amount of the complementary wavelength to produce a
neutral color (gray or white).
 A traditional color star The colors of the RGB The HSV color wheel has A chart of color
developed in 1867 by color model, which uses the same complementary combinations.
Charles Blanc. The combinations of red, colors as the RGB color
traditional green, and blue light on a model, but shows them
complementary colors black screen to create all in three dimensions.
used by 19th-century the colors seen on a
artists such as Van computer display or
Gogh, Monet and Renoir television.
are directly opposite Complementary colors
each other. are opposite each other.

RGB complementary Red and cyan are Blue and yellow are also
colors magenta and complementary in the complementary in the
green provide a high RGB color model. RGB model.
contrast and reinforce
each other's brightness.

Color printing
Color printing, like painting, also uses subtractive colors, but the complementary colors are different from those used in painting.
As a result, the same logic applies as to colors produced by light. Color printing uses the CMYK color model, making colors by
overprinting cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink. In printing the most common complementary colors are magenta–green,
yellow–blue, and cyan–red. In terms of complementary/opposite colors, this model gives exactly the same result as using the
RGB model. Black is added when needed to make the colors darker.

In theory and art

In color theory
The effect that colors have upon each other had been noted since antiquity. In his
essay On Colors, Aristotle observed that "when light falls upon another color, then,
as a result of this new combination, it takes on another nuance of color."[6] Saint
Thomas Aquinas had written that purple looked different next to white than it did
next to black, and that gold looked more striking against blue than it did against
white; the Italian Renaissance architect and writer Leon Battista Alberti observed
that there was harmony (coniugatio in Latin, and amicizia in Italian) between certain
colors, such as red–green and red–blue; and Leonardo da Vinci observed that the
finest harmonies were those between colors exactly opposed (retto contrario), but no
one had a convincing scientific explanation why that was so until the 18th century.
In the CMYK color model, the
In 1704, in his treatise on optics, Isaac Newton devised a circle showing a spectrum
primary colors magenta, cyan,
of seven colors. In this work and in an earlier work in 1672, he observed that certain and yellow together make black,
colors around the circle were opposed to each other and provided the greatest and the complementary pairs are
contrast; he named red and blue, yellow and violet, and green and "a purple close to magenta–green, yellow–blue, and
scarlet."[7] cyan–red.

In the following decades, scientists refined Newton's color circle, eventually giving
it twelve colors: the three primary colors (yellow, blue, and red); three secondary colors (green, purple and orange), made by
combining primary colors; and six additional tertiary colors, made by combining the primary and secondary colors.

In 1793, the American-born British scientist Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753–1814), coined the term complementary
colors. While staying at an inn in Florence, he made an experiment with candles and shadows, and discovered that colored light
and the shadow cast by the light had perfectly contrasting colors. He wrote, "To every color, without exception, whatever may be
its hue or shade, or however it may be compounded, there is another in perfect harmony to it, which is its complement, and may
be said to be its companion." He also noted some of the practical benefits of this discovery. "By experiments of this kind, which
might easily be made, ladies may choose ribbons for their gowns, or those who furnish rooms may arrange their colors upon
principles of the most perfect harmony and of the purest taste. The advantages that painters might derive from a knowledge of
these principles of the harmony of colors are too obvious to require illustration."[8]

In the early 19th century, scientists and philosophers across Europe began studying the nature and interaction of colors. The
German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe presented his own theory in 1810, stating that the two primary colors were those in
the greatest opposition to each other, yellow and blue, representing light and darkness. He wrote that "Yellow is a light which has
been dampened by darkness; blue is a darkness weakened by light."[9] Out of the opposition of blue and yellow, through a process
called "steigerung, or "augmentation" a third color, red, was born. Goethe also proposed several sets of complementary colors
which "demanded" each other. According to Goethe, "yellow 'demands' violet; orange [demands] blue; purple [demands] green;
and vice versa".[10] Goethe's ideas were highly personal and often disagreed with other scientific research, but they were highly
popular and influenced some important artists, including J.M.W. Turner.[11]

At about the same time that Goethe was publishing his theory, a British physicist, doctor and Egyptologist, Thomas Young
(1773–1829), showed by experiments that it was not necessary to use all the colors of spectrum to create white light; it could be
done by combining the light of just three colors; red, green, and blue. This discovery was the foundation of additive colors, and of
the RGB color model.[12] He showed that it was possible to create magenta by combining red and blue light; to create yellow by
mixing red and green light; and to create cyan, or blue-green, by mixing green and blue. He also found that it was possible to
create virtually any other color by modifying the intensity of these colors. This discovery led to the system used today to create
colors on a computer or television display. Young was also the first to propose that the retina of the eye contained nerve fibers
which were sensitive to three different colors. This foreshadowed the modern understanding of color vision, in particular the
finding that the eye does indeed have three color receptors which are sensitive to different wavelength ranges.[13]
At about the same time as Young discovered additive colors, another British scientist, David Brewster (1781–1868), the inventor
of the kaleidoscope, proposed a competing theory that the true primary colors were red, yellow, and blue, and that the true
complementary pairs were red–green, blue–orange, and yellow–purple. Then a German scientist, Hermann von Helmholtz,
(1821–1894), resolved the debate by showing that colors formed by light, additive colors, and those formed by pigments,
subtractive colors, did in fact operate by different rules, and had different primary and complementary colors.[14]

Other scientists looked more closely at the use of complementary colors. In 1828, the French chemist Eugene Chevreul, making a
study of the manufacture of Gobelin tapestries to make the colors brighter, demonstrated scientifically that "the arrangement of
complementary colors is superior to any other harmony of contrasts." His 1839 book on the subject, De la loi du contraste
simultané des couleurs et de l'assortiment des objets colorés, showing how complementary colors can be used in everything from
textiles to gardens, was widely read in Germany, France and England, and made complementary colors a popular concept. The
use of complementary colors was further publicized by the French art critic Charles Blanc in his book Grammaire des arts et du
dessin (1867) and later by the American color theorist Ogden Rood in his book Modern Chromatics (1879). These books were
read with great enthusiasm by contemporary painters, particularly Georges Seurat and Vincent van Gogh, who put the theories
into practice in their paintings.[15]

Newton's color circle A Boutet color circle from The color wheel
(1704) displayed seven 1708 showed the designed by Johann
colors. He declared that traditional Wolfgang von Goethe
colors opposite each complementary colors; (1810) was based on the
other had the strongest red and green, yellow idea that the primary
contrast and harmony. and purple, and blue and colors yellow and blue,
orange. representing light and
darkness, were in
opposition to each other.

In art
In 1872, Claude Monet painted Impression, Sunrise, a tiny orange sun and some orange light reflected on the clouds and water in
the centre of a hazy blue landscape. This painting, with its striking use of the complementary colors orange and blue, gave its
name to the impressionist movement. Monet was familiar with the science of complementary colors, and used them with
enthusiasm. He wrote in 1888, "color makes its impact from contrasts rather than from its inherent qualities....the primary colors
seem more brilliant when they are in contrast with their complementary colors."[16]

Orange and blue became an important combination for all the impressionist painters. They all had studied the recent books on
color theory, and they knew that orange placed next to blue made both colors much brighter. Auguste Renoir painted boats with
stripes of chrome orange paint straight from the tube. Paul Cézanne used orange made of touches of yellow, red and ochre against
a blue background.
Vincent van Gogh was especially known for using this technique; he created his own oranges with mixtures of yellow, ochre and
red, and placed them next to slashes of sienna red and bottle green, and below a sky of turbulent blue and violet. He also put an
orange moon and stars in a cobalt blue sky. He wrote to his brother Theo of "searching for oppositions of blue with orange, of red
with green, of yellow with purple, searching for broken colors and neutral colors to harmonize the brutality of extremes, trying to
make the colors intense, and not a harmony of greys."[17]

Describing his painting, The Night Café, to his brother Theo in 1888, Van Gogh wrote: "I sought to express with red and green the
terrible human passions. The hall is blood red and pale yellow, with a green billiard table in the center, and four lamps of lemon
yellow, with rays of orange and green. Everywhere it is a battle and antithesis of the most different reds and greens."[18]

Impression, Sunrise by Oarsmen at Chatou by In this self-portrait Starry Night by Vincent

Claude Monet (1872) Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1889), Vincent Van van Gogh (1889)
featured a tiny but vivid (1879). Renoir knew that Gogh made the most of features orange stars
orange sun against a orange and blue the contrast between the and an orange moon.
blue background. The brightened each other orange of his hair and
painting gave its name to when put side by side. the blue background.
the Impressionist
movement.

The Night Café by

Vincent van Gogh (1888)
used red and green to
express what van Gogh
called "the terrible human
passions".

Afterimages
When one stares at a single color (red for example) for a sustained period of time (roughly thirty seconds to a minute), then looks
at a white surface, an afterimage of the complementary color (in this case cyan) will appear. This is one of several aftereffects
studied in the psychology of visual perception which are generally ascribed to fatigue in specific parts of the visual system.
In the case above the photoreceptors for red light in the retina are fatigued, lessening their ability to send the information to the
brain. When white light is viewed, the red portions of light incident upon the eye are not transmitted as efficiently as the other
wavelengths (or colors), and the result is the illusion of viewing the complementary color since the image is now biased by loss of
the color, in this case red. As the receptors are given time to rest, the illusion vanishes. In the case of looking at the white light,
red light is still incident upon the eye (as well as blue and green), however since the receptors for other light colors are also being
fatigued, the eye will reach an equilibrium.

Practical applications
The use of complementary colors is an important aspect of aesthetically pleasing art and graphic design. This also extends to
other fields such as contrasting colors in logos and retail display. When placed next to each other, complements make each other
appear brighter.

Complementary colors also have more practical uses. Because orange and blue are complementary colors, life rafts and life vests
are traditionally orange, to provide the highest contrast and visibility when seen from ships or aircraft over the ocean.

Red and cyan glasses are used in the Anaglyph 3D system to produce 3D images on computer screens.

Orange life rafts provide Red and cyan glasses This image, viewed with
the highest contrast and are used for viewing red and cyan Anaglyph
visibility seen against Anaglyph 3D three- 3D glasses, will appear
blue water. dimensional images on in three dimensions.
the Internet or in print.

See also
Complementary wavelength

References
Isabelle Roelofs and Fabien Petillion, La couleur expliquée aux artistes, Editions Eyrolles, (2012), ISBN 978-2-
212-13486-5.
John Gage, Couleur et Culture, Usages et significations de la couleur de l'Antiquité à l'abstraction, (1993),
Thames and Hudson ISBN 978-2-87811-295-5
Philip Ball, Histoire vivante des couleurs (2001), Hazan Publishers, Paris, ISBN 978-2-754105-033
Goethe, Theory of Colours, trans. Charles Lock Eastlake, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1982. ISBN 0-262-57021-
1

Notes and citations

1. Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th Edition, Oxford University Press (2002) "A colour that combined with a
 given colour makes white or black."
2. Maloney, Tim (2009). Get Animated!: Creating Professional Cartoon Animation On Your Home Computer (https://
books.google.com/books?id=fthWZUOAOVEC&pg=PT32#v=onepage&q&f=false). Random House Digital.
p. PT32. ISBN 9780823099214.
3. Hammond, Lee (2006). Acrylic Painting With Lee Hammond (https://books.google.com/?id=yQuM4LYlB_IC&pg=
PA17&dq=paint+violet+mix+red+blue#v=onepage&q=paint%20violet%20mix%20red%20blue&f=false). North
Light Books. ISBN 9781600615801.
4. for example, see Isabelle Roelofs and Fabien Petillion, La Couleur expliquée aux artistes, p. 16
5. David Briggs (2007). "The Dimensions of Color" (http://www.huevaluechroma.com/044.php). Retrieved
2011-11-23.
6. On Colors or De Coloribus (793b) cited in John Gage, Couleur et Culture, pg. 13
7. John Gage, Couleur et culture, pg. 172.
8. Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, Conjectures respecting the Principle of the Harmony of Colors, The
Complete Works of Count Rumford (https://books.google.com/books?id=udu4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&d
q=%22count+rumford%22+experiments+coloured+shadows&q=&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22count%20rumford%
22%20experiments%20coloured%20shadows&f=false), Volume 5, pp. 67–68. (Google Books).
9. Goethe (1810), Theory of Colors, paragraph 502.
10. Goethe, Theory of Colours, trans. Charles Lock Eastlake, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1982. ISBN 0-262-57021-
1
11. John Gage, Couleur et Culture, pp. 201–203.
12. Isabelle Roelofs and Fabien Petillion, La couleur expliqée aux artistes, p. 14.
13. Young, T. (1802). "Bakerian Lecture: On the Theory of Light and Colours". Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 92: 12–48.
doi:10.1098/rstl.1802.0004 (https://doi.org/10.1098%2Frstl.1802.0004).
14. Isabelle Roelofs and Fabien Petillion, La couleur expliquée aux artistes, p. 18.
15. John Gage, Couleur et culture, pp. 174–75
16. Philip Ball, Histoire vivante des couleurs, p. 260.
17. Vincent van Gogh, Lettres à Theo, p. 184.
18. Vincent van Gogh, Corréspondénce general, number 533, cited by John Gage, Practice and Meaning from
Antiquity to Abstraction.

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