Daniel Smith Imperial Purple Review: Granulation, Mixing & Uses
Daniel Smith Imperial Purple is worth buying if you like deep, granulating violets for shadows, landscapes and atmospheric paintings. It’s much more interesting than a flat convenience purple, producing rich darks, subtle color separation and excellent mixtures—but it’s a specialty color, not something a beginner absolutely needs.
Some colors are useful. Some are expressive. Some you don’t expect to reach for very often… until they become a core part of every palette you own.
Daniel Smith Imperial Purple is one of those colors.
It’s rich, deep, and beautifully complex — a purple that doesn’t just lay on the paper, it interacts with it, making shadows more interesting and mid-tones sing with nuance. Whether you’re painting florals, moody skies, atmospheric landscapes, or dramatic cityscapes, this pigment almost always improves whatever’s around it.
In short: it’s the purple that doesn’t quit.
What Imperial Purple Actually Looks Like on Paper
Imperial Purple sits right in that lovely zone between lovely violet and mysterious dusk.
This pigment:
- Deepens in value beautifully, shifting toward moody darks without turning black
- Keeps clarity at moderate strength, so colors beneath or beside it don’t disappear
- Graduates into soft, expressive washes when diluted
- Delivers subtle complexity without becoming muddy or neutralized
It’s not a gaudy purple. It’s a grown-up violet — regal, expressive, and a little bit dramatic. (Hence the name. Well played, pigment gods.)
Why Imperial Purple Is So Useful
Here’s what makes this color a real workhorse in the palette:
✔ Strong value range — from soft watercolor glow to deep accent
✔ Rich, layered color transitions — not flat at any point
✔ Blends beautifully — great for mixing neutrals and atmospheric shadow hues
✔ Works with both cool and warm pigments — surprisingly versatile
It’s the kind of color that solves problems you didn’t know you had — and then looks beautiful while doing it.
Best Uses (Where Imperial Purple Really Shines)
Imperial Purple earns its keep in:
- Florals with dramatic shadow shapes
- Architectural shadows and moody buildings
- Stormy skies and atmospheric backgrounds
- Rich underpainting for themed compositions
- Portrait accents in cool shadows
- Landscapes with deep, expressive values
Just like a proper imperial color, it looks good everywhere — but especially where depth and mood matter.
Paper Matters (As Always)
Imperial Purple performs best on quality paper that lets pigment behave naturally:
Best:
- 100% cotton cold press or rough — texture + value range
Also fine:
- Hot press — smoother transitions, less obvious texture
Less ideal:
- Slick or coated papers — you’ll still see color, but not depth
Think of paper as the theater and Imperial Purple as the lead actor. Give it a decent stage.
Technique Tips (Make It Look Intentional)
- Start with a juicy wash for expressive movement
- Layer once dry for depth without muddiness
- Tilt the paper gently to encourage gentle pigment shift
- Use clean water drops for soft edge blossoms
- Avoid over-scrubbing — it kills subtle texture
This color loves a confident hand and a relaxed brush.
Mixing Suggestions (If You Want Even More)
Imperial Purple blends beautifully with:
- Ultramarine Blue → stormier violets and atmospheric depth
- Quinacridone Gold → muted warm neutrals
- Burnt Sienna → earthy mauves and rich shadows
- Payne’s Gray → dramatic dark hues without flatness
Your goal with Imperial Purple mixes: don’t simplify it, enhance it.
Who Should Buy Imperial Purple?
You’ll love it if you:
- paint florals, skies, landscapes, or architectural shadows
- enjoy moody, atmospheric color
- prefer pigments with range and depth
- want colors that amplify other pigments
You might skip it if you:
- avoid expressive or granulating pigments
- work exclusively on slick surfaces
My Verdict
Imperial Purple is one of those colors that grows on you. At first glance it’s deep and beautiful; by the tenth painting it’s indispensable.
It’s rich but not opaque, expressive but not muddy, and definitely a pigment you’ll find yourself reaching for again and again — sometimes without even thinking about it.
Do you need Imperial Purple? No. You can mix plenty of beautiful purples yourself. But if you like granulation, dramatic shadows and colors that do interesting things on the paper without much help from you, Imperial Purple is a very useful luxury. I reach for it far more often than I originally expected.
Purchase The Daniel Smith “Separating” Color Paints Online:
Imperial Purple
Cascade Green
Undersea Green
Rose of Ultramarine
Shadow Violet
Moonglow
How Does Daniel Smith Imperial Purple Compare?
- Best for Heavy Granulation: Holbein Mineral Violet – Both colors granulate beautifully, but Holbein Mineral Violet produces more color separation while Imperial Purple creates darker, moodier textures with stronger blossoms.
- Best for Atmospheric Shadows: Winsor & Newton Cobalt Violet – Cobalt Violet is softer and more delicate, making it ideal for distant mountains and subtle colorful shadows. Imperial Purple creates much stronger contrast and dramatic dark passages.
- Best for Mixing Darks: Perylene Maroon – Perylene Maroon produces rich warm darks, while Imperial Purple creates cool, moody shadows. Together they make an outstanding combination for dramatic landscapes and architecture.
- Best for Dramatic Texture: Daniel Smith Lunar Black – Lunar Black produces the heaviest granulation of the group, while Imperial Purple adds beautiful purple undertones and colorful blossoms. Both are excellent choices if you enjoy letting watercolor create texture naturally.
- Best Complementary Color: Quinacridone Burnt Orange – One of my favorite color combinations. These complementary colors create rich neutral grays, dramatic landscape shadows, and glowing sunset mixtures without becoming muddy.
- Best Alternative Purple: Pyrrole Rubin – Pyrrole Rubin is a transparent red that mixes beautiful violets with blues, while Imperial Purple arrives ready to paint straight from the tube. If you enjoy mixing your own purples, Pyrrole Rubin offers greater flexibility. If you want immediate granulation and dramatic texture, Imperial Purple is hard to beat.
My Recommendation
If you love granulating watercolor pigments, dramatic blossoms, and rich atmospheric shadows, Daniel Smith Imperial Purple is one of the most exciting purples you can own. It excels in snowy landscapes, storm clouds, mountains, wildlife, and expressive landscape paintings where texture is just as important as color.
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Ryan Fox AWS, NWS, TWSA
Ryan Fox Painting
(919) 645-8345