Maroon is a dark red with no purple lean, and in that it differs from burgundy. Every route to it starts from red and then darkens or dulls it.
In our paint model, our red on its own is already the closest single paint. Everything else in the table is red plus a share of something that pulls it darker.
CSS maroon is a dark red with no blue in it: only the red lamp of a screen, at a low level. Other CSS dark reds are listed for comparison.
In paint
The five closest two-paint mixes are all mostly red with a smaller share of cyan, green, black, blue or violet. Green is red's opposite on the painter's wheel and dulls the red; black, blue and violet darken it. Yellow, orange, white and magenta do not appear among the five.
Closest two-paint mixes
- += 85% Red + 15% Cyan #8B3334 · ΔE 10.8 from maroon
- += 75% Red + 25% Green #8D3134 · ΔE 10.9 from maroon
- += 65% Red + 35% Black #922832 · ΔE 10.9 from maroon
- += 80% Red + 20% Blue #9F2A33 · ΔE 11.5 from maroon
- += 60% Red + 40% Violet #A02737 · ΔE 12.7 from maroon
Equal parts
- += Red + Black #682731 · ΔE 14.5 from maroon
- += Red + Green #5E3F3B · ΔE 17.5 from maroon
- += Red + Violet #8B283D · ΔE 14.8 from maroon
ΔE is the CIEDE2000 color difference between the mix and maroon. Zero means the same color; the smaller the number, the closer the mix.
In light
A screen shows maroon with only the red lamp on, at a low level, and the green and blue lamps off. Burgundy needs a trace of the blue lamp as well; maroon does not.
The three lamps at these levels give #810000. Levels are the amount of light each lamp gives out, which is not the same scale as the 0–255 numbers in a color code; the method page shows the conversion.
Wheel pairings
On the painter's wheel the opposite of maroon is a dark green, and one of the split-complementary partners is a dark teal. The OKLCH wheel gives deep blue-greens instead.
| Rule | Painter's wheel | OKLCH wheel |
|---|---|---|
| Complementary +180° | #008000 2.13:1 | #004D5A 1.15:1 |
| Analogous -30° +30° | #800055 1.07:1#802000 1.11:1 | #7B003F 1.00:1#6A2E00 1.04:1 |
| Triadic +120° +240° | #808000 2.61:1#000080 1.46:1 | #00540D 1.19:1#233492 1.03:1 |
| Split-complementary +150° +210° | #408000 2.25:1#008080 2.29:1 | #005043 1.16:1#004776 1.13:1 |
Maroon mixed with each paint
Start from maroon (#800000) and add one of our ten stand-in paints. Shares are by amount, in our paint model.
| Add | 75% maroon + 25% | 50% maroon + 50% | 25% maroon + 75% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | #8B0101 | #AD090F | #C91925 |
| Yellow | #A70D05 | #DF3718 | #FF7724 |
| Blue | #5B0C08 | #3C1317 | #35213D |
| Orange | #990603 | #CD2512 | #EF551E |
| Green | #5F120A | #52221D | #554435 |
| Violet | #7A0303 | #6A0C12 | #611A37 |
| Magenta | #890102 | #A60816 | #BD1447 |
| Cyan | #4C180E | #4C292A | #574E69 |
| White | #AE110E | #E63C43 | #FF7D94 |
| Black | #6C0504 | #420A0B | #260D12 |
Named maroons in CSS
| CSS name | Swatch | Code | ΔE from this page's maroon |
|---|---|---|---|
| maroon | #800000 | 0.0 | |
| darkred | #8B0000 | 2.2 | |
| brown | #A52A2A | 10.4 |
Paint results come from a pigment model and our ten stand-in paints, not from real tubes, which vary by brand and pigment. Try any pair in the color mixer, or read how each swatch is worked out.