A Step-by-Step Study of Commercial Artists’ Paint Tubes: The Case of Green Paint Materials from Edvard Munch’s Atelier

Historical art materials have always been a starting point for better understanding artists’ artwork composition, the long-term stability of used formulations and for designing appropriate strategies for conservation. It is important to consider how artists have always been involved over the centuries in the selection and preparation of the materials they used. This changed with the advent of industrial formulations, which were produced and marketed on a large scale, leading to significant changes from the 19th century onwards. In this study, the study of a set of 30 green paint tubes from the Munch Museum collection (Oslo) is presented. The selected investigation method allows for a progressive acquisition of complementary and increasingly detailed information through three multi-analytical steps, involving elemental, spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques, with the aim of characterising these materials in their various inorganic and organic components. Results achieved allow the identification of green pigments’ chemical composition and classification of them in distinct groups, presence of inert additives and characterisation of organic binding media. Degradation processes were also highlighted through the detection of metal soap formations.