Violet as a distinct colour from purple has a complex history — many languages and cultures do not distinguish between blue-purple (violet) and red-purple (purple). Newton's decision to include both violet and indigo in the rainbow was partly philosophical. The Impressionists rediscovered violet by observing that shadows are not grey but contain violet and blue tones — this was controversial when first exhibited.

Mysterious, spiritual, and slightly unsettling. Violet is at the edge of human vision — beyond it lies ultraviolet, invisible to us. This liminal quality gives it an association with the threshold between the visible and invisible, the known and unknown. Associated with mysticism, transformation, and altered states of consciousness.

Violet does not appear in many historical flag or heraldic traditions — it was simply too expensive to produce as a dye. The discovery of synthetic mauve (the first synthetic dye) by William Perkin in 1856 was essentially the discovery of the first synthetic violet-purple. Queen Victoria wore a mauve gown to her daughter's wedding in 1858, making violet fashionable across Europe overnight.