The work of Vincent Van Gogh, whose unique style is world famous, is the result of an all-consuming passion for painting, strenuous work and above all a permanent search to feed continuously his immense artistic knowledge. To trace the evolution of his painting technique and to respond to the issues of authentication, dating and preservation raised by his artwork, it is essential to have a good knowledge of the painting materials he used and how he used them. Our research has focused on paints based on white pigments, which is the basic materials found in ground layers of ready-made canvases as well as in painting layers mixed with other colors. In this respect, Van Gogh presents the rare and surprising peculiarity to have resorted to two types of white paint - lead white and zinc white -, often simultaneously in the same painting, contrasting then with the majority of his contemporaries who have only used the traditional lead white. The analysis of a corpus of ancient micro samples from Van Gogh's paintings and reconstructed paint samples by the innovative combination of a wide range of analytical techniques (SEM-EDX, SR-XRF/XRD, PIXE-RBS, SR-FTIR, nanoindentation, rheological measurements) has allowed to a better understanding of the chemical, mechanical and rheological properties of paints based on white pigments used by Van Gogh. We have thus reached a better knowledge of -the reasons of the joint use of both white pain.; -the elements which can compromise the good preservation of his painting -the rolls of ready-made canvases by Tasset et L'Hôte that Van Gogh has used so often, enabling us to improve in the field of authentication and dating of his artwork
Characterizations of chemical properties of Van Gogh's painting materials : white paints