Complementary Colors

Complementary Colors are pairs of colors that are of "opposite" hue in some color model. The exact hue "complementary" to a given hue depends on the model in question, and perceptually uniform, additive, and subtractive color models, for example, have differing complements for any given color.

In color theory, two colors are called complementary if, when mixed in the proper proportion, they produce a neutral color (grey, white, or black).

In roughly-perceptual color models, neutrals (white, greys, and black) lie along a central axis. For example, in the HSV color space, complementary colors (as defined in HSV) lie opposite each other on any horizontal cross-section.


In most discussions of complementary color, only fully saturated, bright colors are considered. However, under the formal definition, brightness and saturation are also factors. Thus, in the CIE 1931 color space, a color of a particular "dominant" wavelength can be mixed with a particular amount of the "complementary" wavelength to produce a neutral color (grey or white).

In the RGB color model (and derived models such as HSV), primary colors and secondary colors are paired in this way:

* Red and Cyan

* Green and Magenta

* Blue and Yellow