Red-violet (Crayola)
A reddish-purple shade used in Crayola crayons and traditional pigments
Red-violet (Crayola) is a reddish-purple colour found in crayons and pigment sets, matching the shade called medium violet red in digital colour lists. It was commonly used to represent purple in paints and pencils before brighter purples became available. The name links to the way purple was mixed using red and violet pigments.
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- Matches the digital colour medium violet red
- Was the standard purple in pigments and crayons in the 1950s
- Brighter purples became common in the 1970s
- Pigment versions are less bright than digital purples
What colour is Red-violet (Crayola)?
Red-violet (Crayola) is a shade that sits between red and violet, giving a strong reddish-purple look. It was the standard way to show purple in pigments, paints, and coloured pencils, especially in the 1950s. Its colour matches what is now called medium violet red in digital colour systems. It is less bright than some modern purples seen on screens.
Where does Red-violet (Crayola) come from?
The name red-violet comes from its position between red and violet on the old RYB (red-yellow-blue) colour wheel, which was common before digital colour systems. This shade was called pigment purple or pigment red-violet when artists mixed paints. The digital version, medium violet red, was formally named in the late 1980s.
How Red-violet (Crayola) is defined
Red-violet (Crayola) is defined by its colour value in crayon and digital standards. In pigments, it was made by mixing red and violet paints. To create a brighter, more electric purple, artists add some white and a little blue to red-violet pigment, but pigments cannot match the brightness of digital colours.
Where Red-violet (Crayola) is used
This colour was widely used in art materials such as paints, coloured pencils, and crayons, especially before the 1970s. It appears in Crayola crayon sets and is also a standard colour in digital design, matching medium violet red. Artists used it as the go-to purple before brighter options became available.
Purple around the world
What the purple and violet family means from country to country.
In Holy Week, members of religious brotherhoods walk in procession in robes and pointed hoods, many of them purple, the colour of penance. A purple band also marked the flag of the Second Republic.
Sacred and holyPolitics and protestSource: Holy Week in SpainSuffragettes campaigning for women's votes wore purple, white and green: purple for dignity, white for purity and green for hope.
Politics and protestCourageSource: SuffragetteA child born to a reigning Byzantine emperor was called porphyrogennetos, born in the purple. The birth took place in a palace room lined with purple stone.
Royalty and powerAweSource: Born in the purpleIn the elections of 2005, voters dipped a finger in purple ink to prevent double voting. The stained finger, held up for cameras, became a sign of the vote.
Politics and protestPrideSource: Election inkPurple dye from the murasaki plant was costly and hard to make. In the court rank system set up under Prince Shotoku, the highest officials wore purple caps.
Royalty and powerAweSource: Twelve Level Cap and Rank SystemThe Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon made Tyrian purple from sea snails. The dye was so costly that it became the colour of kings and Roman emperors.
Royalty and powerAweSource: Tyrian purpleShades and relatives of Red-violet (Crayola)
Red-violet is closely related to medium violet red in digital colour lists. Brighter purples, sometimes called electric purple, became popular in the 1970s with psychedelic art, but these are lighter and more vivid than red-violet. Mixing in white and blue can shift red-violet toward these brighter purples, but the result is never as bright as digital colours.
Colours that go with Red-violet (Crayola)
Harmonies are worked out from the value #C0448F. Contrast ratios follow the WCAG 2 formula.
Questions people ask about Red-violet (Crayola)
What colour is red-violet (Crayola)?
Red-violet (Crayola) is a reddish-purple shade, sitting between red and violet. It matches the digital colour called medium violet red.
Where does the name red-violet come from?
The name comes from its position between red and violet on the old RYB colour wheel, which artists used to mix paints.
How is red-violet (Crayola) made?
In pigments, it is made by mixing red and violet paints. In digital systems, it is defined by a specific colour value.
How does red-violet differ from electric purple?
Electric purple is brighter and more vivid. Red-violet is less bright, and even with added white and blue, pigments cannot match the brightness of digital electric purple.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Red-violet" (the section "Red-violet"), written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Rang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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