The last colour of the rainbow - violet - can be obtained by mixing the colours red and blue. It got its name from the violet flower. Violet, as well as indigo, are a slightly controversial colours. You may have read the article ‘Indigo’ from our ‘Rainbow Of Your Life Series’ where we spoke about it. People see colours differently and what one person sees as violet, another calls pink, yet another blue or indigo. In the case of the colour violet, even the language plays an important role.

“Blue is the favourite colour of all people”, was the first sentence I came across when researching for this article. “Hold on”, I was thinking, “My favourite colour is green”. Then I opened my Address Book where I keep notes about my friends’ favourite things (as an inspiration for birthdays or Christmas or “whatever-else" gifts) and started laughing. Blue is the favourite colour of all friends I had this info available for!

Yellow is the brightest colour. It is the colour that we humans can see most clearly. For painters it is one of the primary colours (red, yellow and blue), for scientists it is a secondary colour – primary being red, blue and green.

Red is one of the most represented colours in nature. It is a primary colour and in the history of humankind, it is one of the first colours that were used in art.

“Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain”, I was in awe when I was learning English and came across this wonderful mnemotechnic verse to remember the colours of the rainbow. We did not have anything like that! I never thought it was important either, although, as is the case with most people, I love rainbows. Aren’t they magical? They make us feel good. But what are they other than optical illusions?