What's in the Tube

A thoughtful reader recently wrote me about my post on the invention of the metal paint tube. She pointed out that it was not so much the tube itself that gave birth to Impressionism, but rather what was IN the tube. Yes, indeed.  It is no mere coincidence that the Impressionist movement came at the same time as the Machine Age and the industrialization of Europe. In fact, breakthroughs in chemistry and physics gave us a huge number of new pigments, as well as a new way of understanding light and color. Together these were the catalyst for an entirely new way of painting.


The years between1825 and 1870 saw the invention of at least ten new pigments. Among them were colors that became staples of the Impressionist palette, such as cobalt yellow, artificial ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, cerulean, viridian, alizarine and zinc white. Most of these pigments were very opaque. Their opacity meant that, instead of having to use layer upon layer of thin paint to build up color, as had traditionally been the case, painters could cover the canvas in a much shorter time. They could thus capture a scene quickly, even in one or two sessions outdoors on location.

Eugene Boudin (1824-1898), on location

These years brought us not only new colors, but also new theories of color. Eugene Chevreul, an industrial color chemist, wrote extensively about the nature of color and light. He articulated the law of "simultaneous contrast", by which a color appears brighter and more intense when placed next to its complement. Here's an illustration:

Other chemists were expanding on the work of Isaac Newton, who had shown by using a prism that white light contained all other colors of light. Nowadays we take this idea for granted, having seen the illustration below since we were children. But it was a new concept at the time.

Impressionism was born in the midst of--or perhaps even as a result of--these breakthroughs. There was a new understanding of how we see light. At the same time, that there were new paints which would allow painters to work quickly to capture the fleeting effects of light. No wonder that with Impressionism, light itself became the subject of paintings. As said in the North Carolina Museum of Art's "Revolution in Paint","The Impressionist came to see the world as flicking light and color, a jumble of prismatic light reflected to our eye. The pigments on their palette were not just colors; they were the ingredients of light."

I think that Monet's series of paintings of the Rouen cathedral is a great illustration of how the Impressionists painted light. Take a look at the examples below. It is clear that Monet is not just painting the cathedral facade---he is painting the LIGHT on the facade. And so a new way of painting is born...

"Rouen Cathedral, Facade and the Tour d'Albane, Gray Weather", 1894

"Rouen Cathedral, West Facade, Sunlight", 1894

"Rouen Cathedral, Setting Sun", 1894

Stay tuned for upcoming installments on technical advances in paint manufacture, and other theories of color and color perception--and how they changed the way we paint.