Pink is one of the most popular and loved colors, perhaps because of its brilliance that invites us to relax and feel comfortable. However, there are those who say that the color pink does not actually exist and is an invention of the brain.
Getting into the definition of existence borders on the philosophical and it would seem very hasty to assert that pink does not exist. What we can assure is that it is the result of the brain’s effort to combine the wavelength of red and violet.
Colors between wavelengths
How is this possible? Think about the color spectrum, this region called the visible spectrum is an area of the electromagnetic spectrum that man is capable of observing. The human eye is capable of capturing from approximately a wavelength of 400 nanometers, which our brain assimilates as the color violet. Up to the wavelength of 700 nanometers, corresponding to the color red.
Among these parameters, we have other wavelengths (colors): Orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo, are the other colors that complete the visible spectrum of the human being. You realize already? Exactly, the pink does not appear.
This beautiful, although dubious, color does not have a specific wavelength of light for it. Pink doesn’t actually exist, it’s just an invention of your brain trying to assimilate the wavelengths of violet and red. So taking a purist stance regarding the electromagnetic spectrum, we could say that pink, more than a color, is considered a dye derived from red.
But it doesn’t work as simple as that, the range of colors captured by the human eye does not refer to a linear spectrum. In addition to wavelengths, added light values (dyes) and added darkness values (shadows) intervene in it. If we mix all these variables, we will obtain a much more complex range than just the rainbow color spectrum.
As you can see in the image above, if we add tints to the red (that is, more light values) what happens is that it becomes lighter, resulting in pink. This is why many do not consider pink as a color, but rather as a tint of red.
Although if we see it from an a priori perspective, the existence of pink is rather linked to our mind’s interpretation of what it assumes to be reality. Under this argument, colors, beyond being a wavelength of the visible spectrum, are sensations that are within our mind.