Primary colors are Red, Blue, and Yellow. These three colors are the basis of the creation of other colors. On the color wheel, each hue is equidistant from each other. All three hues have their own separate stories.

An eye-catching red building. Photo by Georgy Rudakov

Red

Apple. Blood. Wine. Rage. Heart. Republican. Luck. All things that are red or red represents. In western culture, red describes passion and aggression. Red also means food. This is why so many fast-food restaurants use red in their branding. In China, red is the color of luck which is why it is often a popular color in Chinese culture. It was and still is a color associated with royalty and ceremony. Red is the color of the 1st chakra which represents grounding.

It is also the color of revolution; used often by communist countries. Revolution is connected to heated passions which makes red the perfect color to illustrate those feelings. Which is why the red planet, Mars, historically represented war for the Romans.

Red in Nature

Planet Mars gets its scarlet tint from iron oxide or rust. Iron oxide was used to paint prehistoric cave paintings here on Earth. Blood gets its color from oxygenated hemoglobin. Pomegranates, apples, leaves all have carotenoids that create their beautiful hues. Learn more here.

Red Playlist

Red Red Wine by UB40

Little Red Corvette by Prince

99 Red Balloons by Nena

Redbone by Childish Gambino

Roxanne by The Police

Blue

Ocean. Sky. Ice. Blue bloods. Blues music. Blue-collar. Democrat. Boys. This hue is associated with calmness, reliability, and sadness. Blue is the color of the fifth chakra, which represents the ability to communicate. In Britain and the United States, blue is the color of loyalty. Banks and hospitals often use blue in their branding to relay reliability to prospective customers. In ancient Egypt, blue was associated with divinity, so it was often used in paintings and sculptures of divine beings. The Romans saw blue as a color for the working class and barbarians. The clothing of the working class was often blue throughout western history because woad was an easily attainable blue pigment. It also is seen as a masculine color in modern culture, often used to market gender-specific products.

Blue in Nature

Water and sky are often sources of calmness. In nature, the blue sky resides reliably over our heads. In most languages, the word used for “blue" developed later coinciding with the culture’s ability to manufacture blue pigments. Learn more here.

Blue by LeeAnn Rimes

Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash

Blue Moon by Beck

Mr. Blue Sky by Weezer

Blue (Da Ba Dee) Effel 65

Yellow

Sun. Rubber duckies. Lemon. Emojis. Egg yolks. Bananas. Coward. Saffron. Yellow is known for its eye-catching brightness. It is considered the color of happiness by many cultures because it is the color of sunshine. It is also associated with cowardice in the United States. It is a royal color in China. Yellow is also associated with gold. The color is used for things that are eye-catching like taxis, road signs and to refer to a type of journalism known for sensationalized headlines. The striking nature of the color made it ideal for exclusion through history; both voluntary and involuntary. Buddhist monks wear yellow to show their separation from the world. During the Holocaust, Jewish people were forced to wear yellow stars to easily identify them to the Nazi regime. Learn more here.

Yellow in Nature

Yellow flowers in bloom. Photo by Ra Dragon

The yellow color in fruits, flowers, leaves, bacteria, and fungi are created by the presence of carotenoid pigments. Yellow ochre, a painting pigment created from clay, was used to create paintings in the cave of Lascaux and other prehistoric cave artwork. Yellow is the color of the third chakra which represents self-esteem and responsibility.