Find out what qualities of watercolor made it the medium of choice for many Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, portrait miniatures and colored drawings
creating-painting
Their island climate didn’t suit fresco, so the Venetians tried oils instead—these paints blend when wet.
Oil paint in Venice
This portrait was in good condition. Thanks to the removal of varnish and overpainting, it’s now cleaner than ever.
Conserving a portrait of King Edward VI
A three-hundred year old painting required a lot of attention before it was ready for visitors to experience in the gallery.
Painting Conservation of the Virgin of Guadalupe
A restorer’s job is to make sense of a painting’s physical history and to stabilize its changeable materials.
Conservation of paintings
What happens when a painting is vandalized? See how conservators at Tate leapt into action to save a painting.
Restoring Rothko
The three versions of this bedroom scene may look similar, but technical analysis reveals differences between them.
The Science of Van Gogh’s Bedrooms
Raking light reveals bulges and creases in a canvas, as well as the dynamism of van Gogh’s brushstrokes.
Van Gogh’s Enclosed Field with Ploughman under ...
Watch as a conservator removes decades-old varnish from a van Gogh landscape. Look at those stunning colors!
Conservation of Vincent van Gogh’s Field with ...
This painting took months of cleaning and structural work to revive—and posed several conservation challenges.
Michael Gallagher on Everhard Jabach and His ...
Learn how to paint like artist Mark Rothko, a major figure of the New York School in the decades following the Second World War.
How to paint like Mark Rothko
Treating this still life involved reattaching paint, removing and reapplying varnish, and then retouching losses.
Conserving Flowers in a Glass Vase
This magnificent portrait was recently cleaned for the first time in 60 years. Now, the silver brocade gleams.
Conserving Velázquez’s Portrait of Philip IV
Discolored varnish had obscured much of these paintings, but technical examination revealed Gossart’s subtlety.
Jan Gossart – Conservation Discoveries
When Jan van Eyck’s masterpiece started flaking paint, experts convened and drew up a plan for its conservation.
Ghent Altarpiece project overview
Newman called the lines in his paintings “zips.” Learn how they’re made and how they work.
How to paint like Barnett Newman
Kline’s gallerist broke into his studio and replaced cheap paint with fine art paint—but Kline didn’t thank him.
How to paint like Franz Kline
How does Reinhardt make his “black paintings” with no black at all?
How to paint like Ad Reinhardt
Pollock drew in space with thin, industrially-produced paints over a canvas on the floor—learn how!
How to paint like Jackson Pollock
Learn how to paint like artist Yayoi Kusama, a vital part of New York’s avant-garde art scene from the late 1950s to the early 1970s.
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!
