What are the three primary colors?

The three primary colors in traditional color theory, specifically in the context of art and painting, are red, blue, and yellow. These colors are called "primary" because they cannot be created by mixing other colors together; instead, they serve as the foundational colors from which a wide range of other colors can be created through various combinations.

For example, when red is mixed with blue, it produces purple; red and yellow mix to create orange; and blue mixed with yellow gives green. This property of primary colors makes them essential for artists, as they can use these three hues to blend and achieve a vast spectrum of secondary and tertiary colors, thus enriching their artworks.

In contrast to the selected answer, other combinations of colors provided in the options do not form the basis of the primary color set in traditional color mixing: red, green, and blue are primary colors in additive color mixing (like in light), while yellow, orange, and black, as well as blue, purple, and yellow, do not accurately represent the concept of primary colors in the traditional sense used in visual arts.