Colour psychology | violet
‘Violet combines emotional red’
Violet or lilac combines emotional red with cold blue and thus all ’the opposites associated with both colours. Violet makes use of the properties of both colours and thus symbolizes a meta-level of the representational and physical – the psyche, the supersensible and incomprehensible. The mystical is often expressed by the colour violet and sometimes violet is also the colour of mourning and at the same time of hope, of the new and of a new beginning.
It is not without reason that the struggle for gender equality is marked by the colour purple. Violet light has the power to release healing energy and promote one’s own spirituality. For centuries, purple, a shade of violet with a higher proportion of red, was reserved for ecclesiastical and secular rulers, as this colour was obtained from the secretion of the so-called purple snails – a complex and expensive matter.
In the Catholic Church, purple robes are reserved exclusively for bishops – cardinals wear red. And the Protestant Church also uses purple as a colour for identification. In Mexico the colour of snails is used for dyeing to this day and in ancient Rome the wearing of a purple toga was reserved for the emperor. The toga of the senators was only adorned with a purple coloured stripe, whereby the common people were forbidden to wear the precious colour on death penalty.
Violet is the colour of the superhuman and can – depending on the colour nuance, mood and individual association – also have different meanings. The novel `The Color Purple` by Alice Walker, which was later filmed by Steven Spielberg, and the song `Purple Rain` by Prince combine purple with strong emotions. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe already describes the essence of colours in his extensive “Theory of Colours”. So does the colour purple. Extremely impressed by its effect, Goethe wrote in his ‘Harzreise’ of 1777: “But when the sun finally approached its setting and its extremely moderate ray covered the whole world around me with the most beautiful purple colour, because of the stronger fumes the shadow colour turns into a green (…). The appearance became more and more lively, one believed to be in a fairy world, because everything was dressed in the two lively and so beautifully matching colours (…) ”.
The painter William Turner, a few years later, brings the essence of Goethe’s `Theory of Colours` in his painting `Light and Colour` with oil on canvas, completed in 1843. In fact, an exhibition by Verner Panton in the Trapholt Museum / Denmark in 1998 and in London / England bears the same title.
Purple is the complementary colour to yellow and is rarely found both in nature and in interior design. Occasionally, individual walls are painted a pastel-coloured purple, but lights, furniture, carpets? Purple is probably the most underrated of all colours in interior design. Purple accented cushions, lights, carpets, chairs, armchairs or sofas are real eye-catchers.
Design objects in purple or with purple accents have a very special charm. They not only set elegant colour accents, but also ensure exclusivity and perhaps a pinch of eccentricity. With the following design objects from TAGWERC you can bring a touch of purple into your home.