Complementary colors

Pairs of colors which, when combined or mixed, cancel each other and produce a grayscale color.

Complementary colors are pairs of colors which, when combined or mixed, cancel each other out (lose hue) by producing a grayscale color like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those two colors. Complementary colors may also be called "opposite colors."


Modern color theory uses either the RGB additive color model or the CMY subtractive color model, and in these, the complementary pairs are red–cyan, green–magenta, and blue–yellow.
In the traditional RYB color model, the complementary color pairs are red–green, yellow–purple, and blue–orange.
Opponent process theory suggests that the most contrasting color pairs are red–green, and blue–yellow.

Traditional color model

The traditional color wheel model dates to the 18th century and is still used by many artists today. This model designates red, yellow and blue as primary colors with the primary–secondary complementary pairs of red–green, blue-orange, and yellow–purple.

In this traditional scheme, a complementary color pair contains one primary color (yellow, blue or red) and a secondary color (green, purple or orange). The complement of any primary color can be made by combining the two other primary colors. For example, to achieve the complement of yellow (a primary color) one could combine red and blue. The result would be purple, which appears directly across from yellow on the color wheel. Continuing with the color wheel model, one could then combine yellow and purple, which essentially means that all three primary colors would be present at once. Since paints work by absorbing light, having all three primaries together produces a black or gray color (see subtractive color). In more recent painting manuals, the more precise subtractive primary colors are magenta, cyan and yellow.


Placed side-by-side as tiny dots, in partitive color mixing, complementary colors appear gray.

Colors produced by light

The RGB color model, invented in the 19th century and fully developed in the 20th century, uses combinations of red, green, and blue light against a black background to make the colors seen on a computer monitor or television screen. In the RGB model, the primary colors are red, green, and blue. The complementary primary–secondary combinations are red–cyan, green–magenta, and blue–yellow. In the RGB color model, the light of two complementary colors, such as red and cyan, combined at full intensity, will make white light, since two complementary colors contain light with the full range of the spectrum. If the light is not fully intense, the resulting light will be gray.


Color printing



Practical applications





Complementary colors
also known as
  • Opposite colors
Adapted from content published on
  • Image By Ellywa (template) and Zupanto (uploader), CC BY-SA 4.0 — from
Last modified on October 28, 2020, 12:50 am is a service provided by Codecide, a company located in Chicago, IL USA.