mauve

Mauve
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#E0B0FF
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(224, 176, 255)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(276°, 31%, 97%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Mallow wildflower

Mauve (pronounced /ˈmoʊv/, rhymes with "grove";^[1] from the French form of Malva "mallow") is a pale lavender-lilac color, one of many in the range of purples.

Mauve is more grey and more blue than a pale tint of magenta would be. Many pale wildflowers called "blue" are actually mauve. Sometimes mauve can be considered a dirty pink or a shade of purple.

Mauve can also be described as pale violet.

Mauveine, the first aniline dye

Mauve was first named in 1856. Chemist Sir William Henry Perkin, then eighteen, was attempting to create artificial quinine. An unexpected residue caught his eye, which turned out to be the first aniline dye – specifically, mauveine, sometimes called aniline purple. Perkin was so successful in recommending his discovery to the dyestuffs industry that his biography by Simon Garfield is titled Mauve (2000)^[2].

Variations

Light mauve

Light mauve
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#DCD0FF
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(220, 208, 255)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(255°, 18%, 100 [3]%)
Source		ISCC-NBS
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

At right is displayed the color light mauve.

This color is also called pale lavender. The source of this color is the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)--Color dictionary used by stamp collectors to identify the colors of stamps—See sample of the color Lavender (R) #209 displayed on indicated page (along with several other shades of lavender): [1]

Opera mauve

Opera Mauve
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#B784A7
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(183, 132, 167)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(276°, 20%, 62%)
Source		ISCC-NBS
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

At right is displayed the color opera mauve.

The first recorded use of opera mauve as a color name in English was in 1927. ^[4]

Mauve taupe

Mauve Taupe
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#915F6D
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(145, 95, 109)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(285°, 37%, 54%)
Source		ISCC-NBS
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color displayed at right is mauve taupe.

The first recorded use of mauve taupe as a color name in English was in 1925. ^[5]

See the article on taupe to see additional shades of taupe.

Shades of mauve color comparison chart

• Light Mauve (Hex: #DCD0FF) (RGB: 220, 208, 255)
• Mauve (Hex: #E0B0FF) (RGB: 224, 176, 255)
• Opera Mauve (Hex: #CA82AF) (RGB: 202, 130, 175)
• Mauve Taupe (Hex: #AF868E) (RGB: 175, 134, 142)

Mauve in nature

Plants

• The color mauve is named after the mallow flower.

Animals

• Mauve Stingers are a species of jellyfish.

Mauve in human culture

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2007)

Decade nostalgia

• The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade", because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye mauveine allowed the widespread use of that color in fashion. When Perkins accidentally discovered that he was able to chemically make the color purple (mauve), he began the world's search for other colors through chemistry. Now, many colors are chemically made instead of taken from natural sources. Chemistry also became a more profitable career.
• Mauve became very popular in the 1890s and became associated with homosexuality because well known figures in the art world during that decade were gay such as author Oscar Wilde and artist Aubrey Beardsley. By the 1950s, lavender came to symbolize homosexuality, and then pink beginning in the 1970s (Nazi Germany used pink triangle badges to denote homosexuals that had been sent to concentration camps, the origin of the use in the 1970s of the pink triangle symbol to represent gay liberation).
• The Mauve Decade^[6] was the title of a 1926 Thomas Beer (1889–1940) book about the 1890s in the United States. Beer, looking back on this time, believed the United States was moving away from its New England traditions to a time of "decay and meaningless phrases". He took the title from a quote^[7] from artist James Whistler: "Mauve is just pink trying to be purple."^{[cite this quote]}

Genomics

• Mauve is the name of a multiple genome alignment tool under development at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Metaphysics

• In Hermetic Kabbalism, the "false sephiroth" Da'ath is commonly associated with mauve, largely owing to the writings of occultist Kenneth Grant.

Television

• In the British science fiction TV show Doctor Who, mauve is the universal color for danger (Earth is an exception).
• In an episode of the kids television series Hey Arnold! the protagonist Arnold and his friends Sid and Stinky enter into a Go Kart race with their Go Kart "The Dark Avenger." Their friend Eugene also enters the race with his go kart, named "The Mauve Storm." When both their respective Go Karts get wrecked, they combine them and aptly name the new Go Kart "The Mauve Avenger".
• Television host David Letterman once stated jokingly that "you know somebody is gay if they know the difference between mauve and taupe."

Theatre

• Mauve is a commonly used color in stage lighting to represent sunsets.
• In Angels in America, Louis identifies the color of the sunset as "purple", to which Belize replies: "Purple? What kind of a homosexual are you, anyway? That's not purple, Mary, that color out there is mauve."
• In Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's 1988 musical Into the Woods, Cinderella's stepsisters return from the Prince's ball to comment "Never wear mauve at a ball."

References

1. ^ Brians, Paul. "Mauve". Common Errors in English. Washington State University. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/mauve.html. Retrieved 2008-02-26. 
2. ^ Garfield, S. (2000). Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour That Changed the World. Faber and Faber, London, UK. ISBN 978-0571201976. 
3. ^ web.forrett.com Color Conversion Tool set to hex code #DCD0FF (Light Mauve):
4. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 200; Color Sample Page 107 Plate 42 Color Sample H5--Opera Mauve
5. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 203; Color Sample of Mauve Taupe Page 37 Plate 7 Color Sample C8--Mauve Taupe
6. ^ Thomas Beer: The mauve decade - American life at the end of the nineteenth century, 1926, at gaslight.mtroyal.ab.ca
7. ^ NON-FICTION: Resurrection, Time Magazine, 1926-07-05

See also

• List of colors
• Malvaria