Prepare to have your mind blown…about the color magenta!

It’s sort of a purple-red-rosy color, or so I thought until I saw this Tumblr thread telling me there’s no such thing as magenta.

This is one of those existential questions that makes us think we may be seeing things that aren’t really there.

See if this makes sense to you.

Is magenta real…?

It turns out that magenta is a figment of our imaginations.

Here’s the deal…

This is all very confusing…

Maybe Alexa can help…

Well, what do you know?

Magenta is definitely not there on the ol’ light spectrum.

So, the spectrum is basically a donut.

Right?

We can see it.

Let’s get magenta sorted out first. Then, we can worry about stygian blue.

I am shaken to the core…and I feel like I need to see The Matrix again.

Red, Blue, and Green…Got it…

All other colors are made up…?

The Visible Spectrum of Light

Checks out.

But is yellow fake? I feel like I see yellow…

So goldfish can see yellow, which means yellow is a real color, but people can’t see it. Our brains make it up.

Then how do we call it yellow and how do we know goldfish see it?

Here’s a visual aid…Our brains are smart.

But we’re all seeing yellow…Is it the same yellow?

Bright, warm and yellow-y?

It’s good that we’re not cognizant of this brain function as it’s happening

I wouldn’t be able to see any colors before a pot of coffee every day.

So outside of red, blue and green, all other colors are photons.

Also, let’s forget at this point how we’re coming up with the language to label these non-colors.

Mind is blown.

Back to magenta.

Behold, the CIE Chromaticity Diagram.

Learn it. Know it. Live it.

Colors are blends of multiple wavelengths.

Our brains know…and we should listen to them.

Now, on to stygian blue, the impossible color.

Otherwise known as the forbidden color.

This is how to see them.

Pretty amazing stuff, don’t you think?