Patent ID: 7213924

Claim:
An image projection apparatus, comprising: a first reflective liquid crystal display element, a second reflective liquid crystal display element, and a third reflective liquid crystal display element; an illumination optical system comprising a color separation optical system which color-separates light from a light source into a first color light component, a second color light component and a third color light component respectively corresponding to the three reflective liquid crystal display elements, the illumination optical system illuminating the three reflective liquid crystal display elements respectively with the three color light components; a color combination optical system combining the color light components emerged from the three reflective liquid crystal display elements; a projection optical system projecting light which has been color-combined by the color combination optical system onto a projection surface; and an incidence side polarizing plate arranged in an optical path from the light source to at least one of the three reflective liquid crystal display elements, wherein an average value of a transmittance, in the entire wavelength region from 450 nm to 630 nm, of the incidence side polarizing plate for light of a polarization direction to be blocked thereby is 5% or less.