Purple Wall Art

Purple Wall Art: The Case for a Difficult Colour

Purple should not work as wall art as often as it does. It is scarce in nature, scarce in interiors, and sits awkwardly between warm and cool — yet that in-between quality turns out to be the whole mechanism. A purple can lean red to warm a room or lean blue to calm one, which makes the colour far more adaptable than its theatrical reputation suggests.

The first decision is which purple, because the two ends of the family behave like different colours. Lavender and lilac are soft, airy and nearly neutral, happy in bedrooms and gentle schemes. Aubergine and deep violet are rich and moody, closer in effect to navy or charcoal, and want the same treatment: decent light, confident furnishings, room to be dramatic. If in doubt, match the depth of the purple to the depth of the room's existing colours rather than worrying about the hue.

Green is the classic partner — sage beside the soft purples, emerald beside the deep ones — and grey is the safe one, with brass or gold to warm the scheme. What deserves caution is purple on purple: a violet canvas over a plum throw against a lilac wall tips into stage-set territory faster than almost any other colour manages.

Be aware, too, that purple is notoriously changeable under artificial light. The same canvas can read blue-violet under cool bulbs and plum under warm ones, so look at the listing image under the lighting your room actually uses rather than trusting a bright screen in daylight.

Give any purple piece a generous margin of plain wall, more than you would give a blue or a green. This is a colour that reads as an event, and events need staging: crowd it and the wall turns busy, frame it with calm and even a modest piece will quietly run the room.