Color psychology | violet

Violet or purple combines emotional Red with cold Blue And with that comes all the contrasts associated with both colors. Violet utilizes the qualities of both colors, thereby symbolizing a meta-level of the objective and physical – the psyche, the supernatural and the incomprehensible. Mysticism is often expressed through the color violet, and it is often also the color of mourning, but at the same time also of hope, of the new, and of new beginnings.

It is no coincidence that the fight for gender equality is associated with the color violet. Violet light has the power to release healing energy and foster one's own spirituality. For centuries, purple, a shade of violet with a high red content, was reserved for religious and secular rulers, as this color was obtained from the secretion of the so-called murex snail – a complex and expensive process.

In the Catholic Church, purple robes are reserved exclusively for bishops – cardinals wear red. The Protestant Church also uses violet as its identifying color. In Mexico, the color of snails is still used for dyeing, and in ancient Rome, wearing a purple toga was reserved for the emperor. Senators' togas were adorned with only a purple stripe, and the common people were forbidden, under penalty of death, from wearing the precious color.

Violet is the color of the superhuman and can have various meanings depending on the shade, mood, and individual associations. Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple," later adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg, and Prince's song "Purple Rain" connect violet with strong emotions. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe already described the nature of colors in his comprehensive "Theory of Colours," including the color purple. Deeply impressed by its effect, Goethe wrote in his "Harz Journey" of 1777: "But when the sun finally approached its setting and its rays, most tempered by the stronger vapors, bathed the entire world around me in the most beautiful purple, the color of the shadows transformed into a Green (…). The apparition became ever more vivid; one felt as if one were in a fairy world, for everything had dressed itself in the two vivid and so beautifully matching colors (…)“.

The painter William Turner later captured the essence of Goethe's theory of colors in his 1843 oil painting "Light and Colour" on canvas. An exhibition actually bears the same title. Verner Pantons at the Trapholt Museum / Denmark in 1998 and in London / England.

Violet is the complementary color to Yellow and is rarely found both in nature and in interior design. Occasionally, individual walls are painted in pastel purple, but lamps, furniture, CarpetsViolet is probably the most underrated of all colors in interior design. Violet-accented cushions, lamps, rugs, chairs, Armchairs or sofas are real eye-catchers.

Design objects in violet or with violet accents have a very special charm. They not only add elegant color accents, but also create an impression of exclusivity and perhaps even a touch of eccentricity. The following design objects from TAGWERC Bring a touch of violet into your home.