Red

Red
 
Clockwise, from top left: fresh strawberries; Northern cardinal; Magdalena Frąckowiak wearing a red dress at Paris Fashion Week; Honor guard of Chinese People's Liberation Army holding red flags; Cardinal Théodore-Adrien Sarr, Archbishop of Dakar.
Spectral coordinates
WavelengthApprox. 625–740[1] nm
Frequency~480–400 THz
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#FF0000
sRGBB (r, g, b)(255, 0, 0)
HSV (h, s, v)(0°, 100%, 100%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(53, 179, 12°)
SourceX11
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres.[1] It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary color (made from magenta and yellow) in the CMYK color model, and is the complementary color of cyan. Reds range from the brilliant yellow-tinged scarlet and vermillion to bluish-red crimson, and vary in shade from the pale red pink to the dark red burgundy.[2]

Red pigment made from ochre was one of the first colors used in prehistoric art. The Ancient Egyptians and Mayans colored their faces red in ceremonies; Roman generals had their bodies colored red to celebrate victories. It was also an important color in China, where it was used to color early pottery and later the gates and walls of palaces.[3]: 60–61  In the Renaissance, the brilliant red costumes for the nobility and wealthy were dyed with kermes and cochineal. The 19th century brought the introduction of the first synthetic red dyes, which replaced the traditional dyes. Red became a symbolic color of communism and socialism; Soviet Russia adopted a red flag following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Soviet red banner would subsequently be used throughout the entire history of the Soviet Union, starting from 1922 and ending with its 1991 dissolution. China adopted its own red flag following the Chinese Revolution of 1949. A red flag was also adopted by North Vietnam in 1954, and by all of Vietnam in 1975.

Since red is the color of blood, it has historically been associated with sacrifice, danger, and courage. Modern surveys in Europe and the United States show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love, and joy. In China, India, and many other Asian countries it is the color symbolizing happiness and good fortune.[4]: 39–63 

  1. ^ a b Georgia State University Department of Physics and Astronomy. "Spectral Colors". HyperPhysics site. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  2. ^ Maerz, A; Paul, M. R. (1930). A dictionary of color. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co. OCLC 1150631.
  3. ^ Chunling, Y. (2008). Chinese red. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. ISBN 9787119045313. OCLC 319395390.
  4. ^ Heller, Eva (1948). Psychologie de la couleur: effets et symboliques. Paris: Pyramid. ISBN 9782350171562. OCLC 470802996.