English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

A major motivation for the scientific study of artworks is to understandtheir states of preservation and ongoing degradation mechanisms. This enablespreservation strategies to be developed for irreplaceable works. Intensely-huedcadmium sulphide (CdS) yellow pigments are of particular interest because theseare key to the palettes of many important late 19th and early 20th centurymasters, including Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and EdvardMunch. As these paintings age, their cadmium yellow paints are undergoingsevere fading, flaking, and discolouration. These effects are associated withphotodegradation, the light-facilitated reactions of CdS with oxygen, moisture,and even the paint binding medium. The use of common optical and X-ray methodsto characterize the physical state of the pigment is challenging due to themixing of the various components of the paint at length scales smaller thantheir resolution. Here, we present an atomic-scale structural and chemicalanalysis of the CdS pigment in Edvard Munch's The Scream (c. 1910, MunchMuseet), enabled by new electron microscope detector technologies. We show thatthe CdS pigment consists of clusters of defective nanoparticles ~5-10 nm indiameter. It is known from the modern use of such particles in photocatalysisthat they are inherently vulnerable to photodegradation. Chlorine doping and apolytype crystal structure further enhance the sensitivity of the CdS pigmentto photodegradation. In addition to The Scream, we have also observed thisinherently unstable pigment structure in Henri Matisse's Flower Piece (1906,Barnes Foundation). The fundamental understanding of the pigments' nanoscalestructures and impurities described here can now be used to predict whichpaintings are most at risk of photooxidation, and guide the most effectivepreservation strategies for iconic masterpieces.

Revealing the nanoparticle composition of Edvard Munch's The Scream, and implications for paint alteration in iconic early 20th century artworks