Which set correctly identifies the primary colors in traditional painting?

• A. Red, Blue, Yellow
• B. Green, Orange, Purple
• C. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
• D. Red, Green, Blue

Answer: (A)

Traditional painting relies on subtractive color mixing, where pigments absorb light. The base primaries are red, blue, and yellow. These pigments can be mixed to create a wide range of hues: red plus blue makes purple, blue plus yellow makes green, and red plus yellow makes orange. None of these colors can be created by mixing the others, which is why they serve as the starting point for building color in traditional art. The other sets don’t fit as the traditional painter’s primaries: green, orange, and purple are secondary colors formed by mixing primaries; cyan, magenta, and yellow are used in printing as CMY primaries; red, green, and blue are the additive primaries used for light on screens. So, red, blue, and yellow are the traditional painting primaries.