We were completely smitten with this wondrous PINK staircase, wondering how we’d feel if we had it to walk down/up everyday, when we came across a video by Minute Physics explaining why pink doesn’t really exist. (Video link here. Sorry for the ad.)

It seems that there is no pink light on the spectrum, that pink is really white light minus green…

So pink LIGHT doesn’t exist, eh? Check this out:

We love pink even more because it is DEFIANT, defying the laws of physics which claims it ‘isn’t’.

Pink is!

Top photo via San Francisco Girl by the Bay
Video via Brainpickings
Bottom photo via KateSpadeNYTumblr

Related posts: ooga-booga’s very cool neon doorway
paint your shelf edges….pink!
figuring out paint colors (from a master)
our lesson in pink (paint) 

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9 replies on “pink’s existential dilemma

  1. And don’t forget what Diana Vreeland said: Pink is the navy blue of India.

  2. Interesting. I’ve been a bit obsessed with the color pink of late, writing posts about it, buying pale pink sheets, etc. I love that first photo —

  3. My mom had a Victorian cottage for a while with a totally enclosed staircase (doors at the top and bottom both), so it was its own separate space. She painted it what she had hoped would be a pale “peach” but it ended up being almost exactly the color of . . . well, let’s just say she decided to go with it, by hanging a poster of a Georgia O’Keefe lily you passed as you used the stairs. She and I agreed when you came down from a good night’s sleep, and the stair was radiantly pink with the morning light, it was like being born again! Thanks for evoking a fond memory.

  4. badumb-badummmmmmm ( boppadum-boppadum )
    badumb-badummmmmmm ( boppadum-boppadum )
    badumb
    ba
    dummmmmmmm (boppadum-boppadum)!
    BOPPA
    DOPPA
    Boppa
    Doppa
    diddle-diddle-diddly-doopa.
    How do you sing the theme from the Pink Panther?

    Pip

  5. hahaha. didn’t think of that. perfect!

  6. Many of us are so afraid of color. I love that your mom went ahead and painted the staircase “peach” but went with the pink…and that the pink has surprising effects.

  7. Yeah, you guys are right, “minute physics” is confusing spectral colors with light colors. It’s true to say that there’s no pink in the spectrum, but there’s no white in the spectrum either; that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist as a light color. All the possible colors of light are defined by the Chromaticity Chart, and from that you can see that every conceivable color of light is basically a spectral color (from around the edge) mixed with white (in the middle). For sure, there are some colors that can only be perceived as surface colors, not light colors (brown, olive, gray), but that’s why color science is fun 🙂

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