MATISSE STR 75ml DESIGNERS MAGENTA S1

Like many adored and widely adopted pigments, the birth of Magenta is contingent on accidental discovery. In 1856, attempting to produce the anti-malarial drug quinine, Chemist William Henry Perkin instead synthesises a potent, deep purple aniline dye he names mauveine, or mauve. This unintended outcome revolutionised the chemical and textile industries, initiating a surge of vibrant new colours such as “fuchsine”, the nascent form of contemporary Magenta, named for its striking, near fluorescent likeness to the Fuchsia plant.

However, many of these early pigments were impermanent in nature, tending to fade rapidly, and it was not until the synthesis of Quinacridone pigments during the 1930s, that a lightfast red-violet became available for artist’s use. Our new Matisse Designers Magenta is composed of these potent, permanent colourants, uniting the vinous, cool red-blue of Quinacridone Magenta with the light and active flush of Naphthol Red.

The result is a beautifully transparent blush-red paint with high tinting strength. This colour profile draws inspiration from ‘process magenta’, a shade used widely in design practices today, as a crucial component of CMYK printing. Sumptuous and fleshy, this vibrant colour is an excellent aid to portrait painting and printmaking processes alike.

What is CMYK?

First developed in 1906 as a four-colour lithographic printing process, CMYK employs a subtractive colour model, layering Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and key (black) sequentially to achieve a nearly infinite palette of colours. This method can be utilised to achieve graphic poster-style screen prints as well as high-quality photographic reproductions and much more.