A bright yellow pigment favored a century ago by Impressionists such as Matisse and Van Gogh is losing its luster. Researchers have developed a laser imaging technique that can detect the first tiny signs of the pigment's breakdown before they're visible to the eye. The work could help art conservators take earlier steps to make the color last.
A bright yellow pigment favored a century ago by Impressionists such as Matisse and Van Gogh is losing its luster. Researchers have developed a laser imaging technique that can detect the first tiny signs of the pigment's breakdown before they're visible to the eye. The work could help art conservators take earlier steps to make the color last.
Several other paintings from this period are facing similar issues. The bright yellow paint these artists used was made from the chemical compound cadmium sulfide. The pigment was beloved by many European artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso all brushed their canvasses with it.
In a new study, Duke University researchers show that a laser microscopy technique they developed could offer a means of early detection, making it possible to identify the first tiny signs of color change even before they're visible to the eye. In a lab on Duke's west campus, Zhou stirred up samples of the famous color. Taking a bottle of powdered cadmium sulfide pigment off a shelf, she mixed it with linseed oil and then brushed it on microscope slides to dry.
But even before these changes became noticeable, clear signs of decay were already apparent in the pump-probe data, Zhou said. There is a caveat: while the technique spots early changes in a nondestructive way, conservators can't easily recreate the bulky laser setup in their own museums.
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