A bright yellow pigment favored a century ago by Impressionists such as Matisse and Van Gogh is losing its luster. One day, art conservators could be able to detect the first tiny signs of the pigment’s decay before they’re visible to the eye and take earlier steps to make the color last, thanks to imaging techniques developed by Duke researchers.

"Nondestructive threedimensional imaging of artificially degraded CdS paints by pumpprobe microscopy", Yue Zhou et al 2024 J. Phys. Photonics 6 025013

Art credit:

Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Hot Rhythm, 1961. Oil on canvas, 39 7/8 × 48 1/4 × 7/8 inches (101.3 × 122.6 × 2.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Mara Motley, M.D., and Valerie Gerrard Browne in honor of Professor Richard J. Powell and C.T. WoodsPowell and in memory of Archie Motley; 2016.24.1. © Nasher Museum.

Bob Thompson, Untitled (Aurora Leaving Cephalus), 1964. Oil on canvas, 13.5 x 17.75 inches (30.5 x 40.6 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Gift of Paula Cooper, in memory of Raymond D. Nasher; 2001.7.2.

Renzo Ortega, El Nacimiento del Maiz (The Birth of Corn), 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 30 inches (121.96 x 76.2 cm) each panel. Collection of Carmen Castanet Betts and Michael A. Betts, II.

Special thanks to the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.


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