Yes, but you're seeing it, right?
Truth be told, our eyes perceive magenta but it really doesn't exist as a single wavelength of light in the visible spectrum. Magenta is a color our brains "create" by combining signals from red and blue light. It's essentially a made-up color.
Photo courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica
Tell that to a rhododendron.
Why would I devote a blog post to the fact that magenta is not a real color? To underscore a larger point: that often, as weavers and as human beings, we perceive colors differently from what they truly are. To explain this succinctly: Our brains play tricks on us as they strive to interpret the color wavelengths that our eyes -- specifically, the cones in our retinas -- receive.
As many of you know, our eyes comprise photoreceptor cells known as rods and cones. They convert light into electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain. The rods are responsible for low-light vision. They are highly sensitive to light and detect shades of gray, providing peripheral vision and night vision. Our cones are responsible for color vision and fine details in bright light. (Little-known fact: Each of our eyes contains approximately 120 million rods and 6 million cones.)
Our perception of color arises from three types of cone cells in the retina, each sensitive to different wavelengths of light: red, green, and blue. They send signals to the brain that are then interpreted as colors.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
The operative word here is "interpreted." Again, our eyes receive wavelengths of color, which are transmitted to the brain as electrical signals which our brains have to interpret. These interpretations can be influenced and even altered in a number of ways. (Also, keep in mind that every individual's rods and cones are unique, adding another variable to our perception of color.)
These principles have been studied and elaborated upon by many scholars, artists, and scientists, of course, ever since Newton discovered the visible spectrum. One of the most famous books on color, The Interaction of Color, was written in 1963 by artist and Yale professor (and husband of Anni) Josef Albers. Pictured below is the cover of the 50th anniversary edition.
Albers teaches us, through exercises and text, how -- like magenta -- what we think we see is not always the real color. Here are a few of his thoughts on the subject:
"In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is -- as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art.
"In order to use color effectively it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually....
"First, it should be learned that one and the same color evokes innumerable readings. Instead of mechanically applying or merely implying laws and rules of color harmony, distinct color effects are produced -- through recognition of the interaction of color -- by making, for instance, two very different colors look alike, or nearly alike."*
I often summarize that last sentence by saying that colors seem to "bend" toward each other.
The takeaway from this post: color deceives continually! That's something weavers need to know: that one color, juxtaposed with another, or combined with several different colors, or viewed in a different light, can vary greatly to our eyes.
*For a deeper look at what Albers considered "the magic of color" -- and how his book gives us tools to unlock it -- visit "The Marginalian," a weekly newsletter devoted to books and the arts, divinely curated and written by Maria Popova. You can find Popova's discussion of the 50th anniversary edition of The Interaction of Color by clicking here. Further, the book is offered as an interactive digital edition by clicking here.
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