Abstract: For use in a self-emitting color display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) having a display screen with a phosphor coating on its inner surface, a surface coating disposed on the display screen's outer surface affords improved color purity, or contrast, by reducing overlap in the color spectrum between two adjacent primary colors, i.e., between red and green and/or between green and blue. An organic dye is added to either an inner antistatic layer or an outer antireflective layer of an antireflective/antistatic outer coating on the display screen, where both of the aforementioned layers contain silane. The dye functions as a color filter absorbing only light within the frequency range between adjacent primary colors, such as between the red and green color phosphors, i.e., in the range of 460-500 nm, and/or between the green and blue color phosphors, i.e., in the range of 560-600 nm. A silane coupling agent is also added to serve as a binding agent bridging the organic dye and silane together.