Disclosed is an ink composition for ink jet recording that can realize excellent printing quality on various recording media, has a high level of color developing properties particularly on plain papers, and can realize excellent gloss for glossy paper and, at the same time, is excellent in ink reliability such as ejection stability, storage stability, and recovery from clogging. The ink composition is characterized by comprising at least a magenta solid solution pigment, a polymer, which can render the pigment dispersible in the ink composition, and water, the polymer having been produced by copolymerizing a monomer composition comprising at least a styrene macromer (A) and a salt forming group-containing monomer (B).