Winsor Violet (Dioxazine) is a vivid mid-shade purple pigment. When undiluted, it can be used as a deep black. It is a transparent coal tar pigment and was introduced into the Winsor & Newton range in the 1960s. Pigments

Winsor and Newton used 64 different pigments in their Designers Gouache range out of which 34 are single pigment colours in order to provide the widest handling properties and maintain clean mixing. W&N always try to use single pigments wherever possible as they are purer in hue and cleaner in colour than mixtures of pigments. This provides a larger number of clean, vibrant colour mixes before resulting in muddy colours, which is a major benefit to artists. In addition to the single pigment colours there are 48 colours that are produced using carefully selected mixtures of pigments. W&N therefore provide these mixed colours to ensure the widest spectrum, without compromising brilliance and opacity.