B次元官网网址淚 think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and donB次元官网网址檛 notice it,B次元官网网址� Shug tells Celie in Alice WalkerB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭he Color Purple.B次元官网网址�

In nature, among the , as a symbol of independence, pride and magic, purple is weighty in history and culture. Now, with the Christmas Day opening of based on WalkerB次元官网网址檚 1982 book, purple takes a seat at the box office after the and all things pink.

Consider it a many-layered cultural counterpart to its frothier cousin.

Power, ambition, luxury. Purple reflects them all. It also expresses creativity, independence, pride, peace, mystery and magic.

In contemporary history and fiction, it often represents something sought dearly. In the early 20th century, purple attire and signage signified loyalty and dignity . In WalkerB次元官网网址檚 novel, Celie, the main character, wants a pair of purple shoes but canB次元官网网址檛 afford them, so she settles on blue.

Oprah Winfrey, who played Sofia in the 1985 film version of B次元官网网址淭he Color Purple,B次元官网网址� has donned purple frequently to promote the new musical she helped produce. And in her recently unveiled portrait for the National Portrait Gallery.

To Oprah, purple is B次元官网网址渟eminal.B次元官网网址� To others, itB次元官网网址檚 a shapeshifter, said Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute, which analyzes and consults on color, including for the folks who made this yearB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭he Color Purple.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚t can take on so many contexts,B次元官网网址� Pressman said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a color that stands out, that makes a statement, that has a singular presence in the world.B次元官网网址�

Some ways to think about purple, the hues nestled between blue and red:

PURPLE, THE DYE

The Romans conquered the Greeks in the second century B.C. and returned home with lots of pigments and dyes, writes Victoria Finlay in B次元官网网址淭he Brilliant History of Color in Art.B次元官网网址� The most celebrated was B次元官网网址減urpura,B次元官网网址� which turned into a fashion phenom made with secretions of certain mollusks. The liquid transformed into purple when left out in the sun.

When Julius Caesar traveled to Egypt in 48 B.C. and met Queen Cleopatra, he noted her love of purple and embraced it himself. ItB次元官网网址檚 a love later taken up by Byzantine emperors. But before them, Caesar decreed that only Caesars could wear togas dyed completely purple.

Many, MANY mollusks were required to make purpura, which sometimes wasnB次元官网网址檛 the color we know today. (Finlay wrote that at least 250,000 were needed for half an ounce of dye.) Ancient Tyrian purple, named for the town of Tyre in what is now southern Lebanon, was also rose, bluish red or velvety black, she writes.

Purple was reserved for royalty, priests and nobles at various times in history and in various places.

By the 14th century, the secrets of Tyrian purple were lost, according to the University of Chicago LibraryB次元官网网址檚 2007 exhibition B次元官网网址淭he Origins of Color.B次元官网网址� But all hail Tyrian purple! In 2001, through trial and error, the technique for making it resurfaced. Well before then, synthetic dyes, including purple were available.

PURPLE, IN SONG

Jimi HendrixB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淧urple Haze.B次元官网网址� Juice WRLDB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淧urple Devil.B次元官网网址� The rockers Deep Purple. The Grammy-winning song B次元官网网址淒eep Purple,B次元官网网址� a No. 1 Billboard single for April Stevens and her brother, Nino Tempo, in 1963.

Purple has been peppering songs for decades, but no musical artist has been more closely aligned with the color than Prince. He became The Purple One after he and his band, the Revolution, put out B次元官网网址淧urple RainB次元官网网址� in 1984 and a won a Grammy for it, along with an Oscar for the score to the companion film.

Though the song peaked at No. 2 on BillboardB次元官网网址檚 Hot 100 in 1984, it forever connected Prince with the color. And he leaned in with his purple attire, purple guitar and purple piano. After his 2016 death, his estate worked with Pantone to come up with an official Prince purple, dubbed B次元官网网址淟ove Symbol #1.B次元官网网址�

Of the songB次元官网网址檚 meaning and title, Prince once explained: B次元官网网址淲hen thereB次元官网网址檚 blood in the sky B次元官网网址� red and blue equals purple. Purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/God guide you through the purple rain.B次元官网网址�

PrinceB次元官网网址檚 Paisley Park estate outside Minneapolis remains bathed in purple at night.

In creating a world in sound, B次元官网网址減urple doesnB次元官网网址檛 have as clear a set of connotationsB次元官网网址� as some other colors, like the sadness of blue or the rage of red, said Nate Sloane, who specializes in the history of popular music and jazz at the University of Southern CaliforniaB次元官网网址檚 Thornton School of Music.

For musical artists, he said, thatB次元官网网址檚 freedom.

B次元官网网址淚ts ambiguity means you can explore more emotions and concepts that are less clear and established,B次元官网网址� Sloane said.

PURPLE, THE PROSE

The term B次元官网网址減urple proseB次元官网网址� stretches back to circa 18 B.C. and the according to Charles Harrington Elster in his 2005 book, B次元官网网址淲hat in the Word?B次元官网网址�

A phrase Horace used, the Latin B次元官网网址減urpureus pannus,B次元官网网址� denoted an irrelevant and excessively ornate passage. Literally, itB次元官网网址檚 a purple garment or raiment (think fancy). HoraceB次元官网网址檚 476-line poem, a manual of sorts on how to write poetry, warns against B次元官网网址渕ediocrity in poets no man, god or bookseller will accept.B次元官网网址�

Generally speaking, purple prose came to mean writing that is laden with flowery descriptors and/or an oppressive structure with no real payoff to a reader. Consider this: Many writers of the 19th century were paid by the number of words they used or pages they produced.

B次元官网网址淧urple prose doesnB次元官网网址檛 seem to have become wholly pejorative until the 20th century when steep declines in the vocabulary and reading comprehension of college-educated Americans caused a panic in the education establishment and the newspaper industry,B次元官网网址� Elster wrote.

A blog post from the publishing site Reedsy offers this made-up example: B次元官网网址淭he mahogany-haired adolescent girl glanced fleetingly at her rugged paramour, a crystalline sparkle in her eyes as she gazed, enraptured, upon his countenance.B次元官网网址�

PURPLE, ON CANVAS

Chagall, Derain, Rothko, Matisse, Klimt. All were admirers of purple.

The color is said to have first surfaced in art during the Neolithic era, writes Hannah Foskett at the site . The pre-Raphaelites in Britain especially loved purple.

Monet stands out for his use of violet in his Lily, Haystack, Snow and Rouen Cathedral series of paintings.

Another interpretation of purple, Foskett writes, is that it tires the eyes, B次元官网网址渙ften symbolizing lust or sorrow in major artworks.B次元官网网址�

Color, in visual art, was helped along by the American portrait painter John Goffe Rand. In the 1840s, he invented a collapsible tube of tin in which to put his paint, rather than the pig bladders he and his counterparts had been struggling with for years, according to Finlay. With the invention of paint tubes, there were suddenly dozens of new pigments, including manganese violet.

B次元官网网址淚t was the first opaque, pure, affordable, mauve-colored pigment,B次元官网网址� wrote Finlay, B次元官网网址渁nd it was seen as a wonder.B次元官网网址�

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