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A Deep Dive Into Paint Pigments
The Scream is fading. Edvard Munch’s 1893 painting depicting a shrieking, agonized face is slowly losing it’s vibrancy. Yellows are fading to white and tiny pieces of paint are flaking away. A similar thing is happening with Van Gogh’s Field of Irises Near Arles. The once vivid chrome yellow has faded to a dull brown. Another Van Gogh piece, The Bedroom, originally featured soft purple walls. The red pigment has broken down and the walls are now blue.
Van Gogh and Munch lived during a time of revolutionary change in the art world. Progress in the chemical industry introduced pre-made paints to the marketplace for the first time. Factories tested paints for vibrancy but not for longevity. Many paints contained impurities and pigments were unstable. Over time, exposure to humidity emitted in the breath of museum visitors caused artworks to slowly degrade.
Prior to the 1880s, most artists made their own paints. The process was tedious and time consuming and paint had to be made from scratch each day. Artists sought out rare pigments and fine oils. Many worked for years as apprentices learning how to properly grind pigments. They became experts in particle size, hue, drying time, permanence and lightfastness (resistance of a pigment to fading when exposed to light). They kept secret “cookbooks” indicating the ratio of pigment to vehicle and whether a siccative (drying…
