Allegory (SW 9553)
Illustrative room. Screen colors vary; test a sample before you paint.
Allegory (SW 9553) is a medium, neutral gray from Sherwin-Williams: LRV 45, so it reflects about 45 percent of the light that hits it.
Colors that go with Allegory
Four Sherwin-Williams colors picked for Allegory by this site's color math: a trim white, a deeper gray, a quiet contrast from another family, a dark accent. Sherwin-Williams did not choose these pairings.
Closest match in every other brand
Each brand's closest color to Allegory, ranked by CIEDE2000 (deltaE): under 1.0 is indistinguishable, 1.0 to 2.3 very close, 2.3 to 5 noticeably different, over 5 clearly different.
| Brand | Closest color | Code | LRV | deltaE | How close |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin Moore | Gray Huskie | 1473 | 45.5 | 0.7 | indistinguishable |
| Behr | Silver Tinsel | UL200-7 | 45.1 | 0.7 | indistinguishable |
| Valspar | Soulful Grey | 6004-1B | 48 | 1.8 | very close |
| PPG Paints | Ghost Writer | 1007-3 | 48 | 2.1 | very close |
Lighter and darker in Sherwin-Williams
The Sherwin-Williams gray colors nearest to Allegory (LRV 45) by LRV.
Lighter than Allegory
Darker than Allegory
Color data
| Brand | Sherwin-Williams |
|---|---|
| Color code | SW 9553 |
| Hex | #B4B2A9 |
| RGB | 180, 178, 169 |
| HSL | 49°, 7%, 68% |
| LRV (light reflectance value) | 45 |
| Lab L*, a*, b* | 72.5, -0.9, 4.8 |
| Undertone | Neutral |
| Temperature | neutral |
| Color family | Gray |
Same paint, two kinds of light
Allegory (SW 9553), published as #B4B2A9
#A3A8A7
#C5BCA9
These swatches and the rooms above are a simulation, not a measurement. How the visualizer works
Similar shades from Sherwin-Williams
More from Sherwin-Williams
Common questions
- What is the LRV of Allegory (SW 9553)?
- Allegory has an LRV of 45. LRV runs from 0 (black) to 100 (pure white) and measures the share of light a surface reflects, so Allegory is a medium color.
- What is the closest match to Allegory in another brand?
- Silver Tinsel (Behr UL200-7) from Behr, at a deltaE of 0.7 (indistinguishable).
- Is Allegory warm or cool?
- Sherwin-Williams lists Allegory as neutral, with a Neutral undertone. Its Lab b* value is 4.8; a higher b* is warmer and yellower, a lower one cooler and bluer.
Sources: LRV and hex as published by the manufacturer, via PaintDB (CC BY 4.0). Color differences are CIEDE2000 values computed by this site from the hex values (data snapshot 2026-10-01). Color names and codes belong to their manufacturers.