From pigment to oil paint
Dating back to the Middle Ages, oil painting acquired its nobility in the 15th century in Flanders, particularly with Van Eyck. This painter brought to a point of perfect…
Saturday 18 May 2024, 18:30Passed
Conditions
Free access, room 814, Richelieu wing, level 2

Les Attributs de la peinture, de la sculpture et de l'architecture (détail) - Anne Vallayer-Coster © RMN - Grand Palais - Musée du Louvre - René-Gabriel Ojéda
Dating back to the Middle Ages, oil painting acquired its nobility in the 15th century in Flanders, particularly with Van Eyck. This painter brought to a point of perfection this pictorial process of successive mixtures of mineral pigments, an oil medium and a multiplication of glazes, in successive layers; the altarpiece of the mystical lamb in Ghent and the Virgin of Chancellor Rolin of the Louvre bear witness to this.
Until the 19th century, painters prepared their colours in their own workshops.
Oil paint is a paint whose binder is a drying oil that completely envelops the pigment particles.
Come and discover the complex manufacture of this medium with a visual artist.
20 minute demonstrations