Sometimes two colors you like are so similar that it seems silly to have them both on your palette, but how do you choose which one to use? It’s like that for me with Quinacridone Rose (a pink made from the pigment PV19) and the color that I usually call Purple Magenta (PR122), which is also known as Quinacridone Lilac (in Daniel Smith) or Quinacridone Magenta (in Holbein and some other brands).
Color Comparison
In making these comparisons, I chose a version of Quinacridone Rose from Da Vinci called Red Rose Deep. This is a version of the color on the warm/red end, which makes it more of a contrast from Purple Magenta than typical. Most Quin Rose hues fall somewhere between Red Rose Deep and Purple Magenta in terms of redness or purpleness.
Both are quite bold, bright, and high-tinting with a wide range of values. Both are transparent, non-granulating, and medium staining. Both have excellent light-fastness. (PR122 gets a bad rap because of its association with the fugitive Opera Pink, make from PR122 and fluorescent BV10, but it is the fluorescent additive, not the PR122, that fades with exposure to light. When the BV10 fades, Opera Pink turns into plain PR122.)
Red Rose Deep is a warmer color, more of a hot pink than a purple. Purple Magenta is cooler, closer to purple and further from red. Purple Magenta is closer to a “true” primary magenta.
In dilute, the PV19 rose produces such lovely blush pinks, perfect for peonies, while diluted PR122 magenta makes pinky purples, perfect for lilacs.
Getting from One to the Other
So what’s easier: mixing a Quin Rose hue from Purple Magenta, or mixing a Purple Magenta hue from Quin Rose?
Color theory would dictate that it’s harder to mix a “true” magenta, a primary color, and indeed I found that to be the case. That said, this will vary based on what other mixing colors you have at your disposal.
In the tests above, I first attempted to mix a “Red Rose Deep hue” from Purple Magenta by adding Transparent Pyrrol Orangee, getting a close but slightly duller/redder color. Directly under that is my first attempt at a “Purple Magenta hue” by mixing Red Rose Deep and Phthalo Blue Red Shade. Again, the result was close but a bit too dull.
I’m happier with the mixes at the bottom. My second “Red Rose Deep hue” from Purple Magenta and Quinacridone Coral looks, to me, strikingly similar to Red Rose Deep. It’s nice and bright and clean. I’m still a bit iffy on the mix of Red Rose Deep and Ultramarine Blue, which is cleaner than the Phthalo Blue and does look similar to Purple Magenta in dilute, but is still weird in masstone and also has slightly different properties (because Ultramarine is granulating). Granted, the mixer I used for the Red Rose Deep hue is much more similar to the target color, so maybe if I had a bright, bold purple on the blue side, I could have done a better job with the Purple Magenta hue.
Color Mixes
Both colors are suitable to use as a primary magenta in your palette. Both mix great purples and good oranges. Both can be used to mix a fire engine red with an orange (such as Transparent Pyrrol Orange) and a crimson with a deep earth red-orange (like Deep Scarlet or Perylene Maroon).
Lemon Yellow
These mixes look really similar to me! Red Rose Deep makes slightly cleaner oranges.
Monte Amiata Natural Sienna
Both mixes make muted coral/peach tones. The Purple Magenta feels like it has a greater range of tones, but this variance could have been user error.
Transparent Pyrrol Orange
Both mixes are suitable for making bright red or red-orange.
Deep Scarlet
Both colors make a deep crimson with Deep Scarlet.
Indanthrone Blue
Both make a range of dark purples with Indanthrone. As we get into the blues, the general trend will be that Purple Magenta (PR122) purples are ‘cleaner’ and less muted, but almost imperceptibly. The unmixed Red Rose Deep has more of a “hot pink” look and offers more contrast with blues.
Cobalt Blue
Deeper (darker and purpler) colors with Purple Magenta.
Cobalt Turquoise
This one seems more different to me than the ones above – hard to put my finger on it, but there’s a muddiness to the Red Rose Deep mixes that I don’t like as much.
Viridian
Viridian mixes turn purple with Purple Magenta or gray with Red Rose Deep (note that you also get purples from Daniel Smith Quin Rose, not shown).
Lightfastness Comparison
According to Kim Crick, PR122 is more reliably lightfast; PV19 can vary dramatically, so it depends on the brand and exact paint you have.
Personally, I found that both maintained reasonably good color but darkened very slightly after 6+ months in the sun. PV19 darkened a little more.
Cost Comparison
Generally, these colors tend to be the same “series” so there should be no major cost difference within the same brand (though costs between brands will vary depending on your locality.)
- In the Daniel Smith line, Quinacridone Rose (PV19) and Quinacridone Lilac (PR122) are both series 2.
- In the Schmincke line, Ruby Red (PV19) and Purple Magenta (PR122) are both series 3.
- In the Winsor & Newton line, Permanent Rose (PV19) and Quinacridone Magenta (PR122) are both series 3.
Some brands have only one or the other; for example, in Holbein, I could only find a PR122 magenta (Quinacridone Magenta). They have a PV19 Quin Violet and a PV19 Quin Red (which looks like Alizarin Crimson), but no PV19 rose. Da Vinci paints, meanwhile, has two versions of PV19 rose (Quinacridone Permanent Rose and Red Rose Deep), but no PR122.
Conclusion
This was a difficult choice for me for a long time, because I like both colors so much and because they mix very similarly.
In theory, I think PR122 is a marginally better choice because it is a little more lightfast and because it is closer to a primary color. It is easier to mix PV19 hue from PR122 than the other way around. You can mix a PV19 hue with PR122 + PR209, and I nearly always have PR209 on hand.
But when it comes to actual palette building over the years, I have found that I prefer PV19 rose over PR122 magenta. When I eliminate PV19 from my palette and go with only PR122, I tend to reintroduce PV19 pretty quickly. When I eliminate PR122, I don’t tend to miss it.
I think this is just an aesthetic thing where I prefer a warmer pink color; I even prefer warmer version of PV19, e.g. DV Red Rose Deep or DS Quin Red instead of DS Quin Rose. PR122 is cooler even than Quin Rose.
PR122 also tends to require a bit more mixing to look realistic in many situations. PR122 is ideal for certain flowers, but most other red or pink tones in nature are quite a bit warmer and/or more muted. I find PR122’s unmixed hue is often a bit artificial-looking, especially in skies. Because PR122 mixes such intense purples, the path of least resistance is to mix fantastical-looking violet clouds. Red/rose PV19s, up to an including Permanent Alizarin Crimson, mix more muted gray-violet clouds that I think look more realistic and offset sunset pinks better.
I think both are extremely reasonable palette choices, with PR122 perhaps appealing more to pigment nerds and bold graphic illustrators, and PV19 appealing more to plein air sketchers who value a bit more naturalism and convenience. I feel like I started out in the former category but am gradually moving more toward the latter.