![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.northwestern.edu\/tebtunis\/files\/2015\/08\/Montage-1lug5lj.jpg\")
Walton, a professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University, is working with colleagues including Casadio at the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago. Casadio is the center’s co-director and chief conservation scientist at the Art institute.<\/p>\n
The imaging work means scientists can peel back the years to determine how the historic portraits from Tebbtunis, for example, were made. They can identify degraded color pigments used in the background (Egyptian Blue), the specific animal fur or hair used for the paint brush (likely from a squirrel and definitely not from a cow), and what region of the world the wood substrate had to be imported from (Central Europe).<\/p>\n
Van Gogh\u2019s Bedroom<\/strong><\/p>\n Vincent Van Gogh\u2019s famous \u201cBedroom\u201d paintings, depicting his bedroom in his Arles home,\u00a0have been the subject of examination for decades.<\/p>\n The exhibit “Van Gogh’s Bedrooms” that opened at the Art Institute this weekend, brought together the three paintings – from museums in Amsterdam, Chicago and Paris – for the first time in North America. Material analysis allowed the scientists to uncover secrets that could shed new light on these well-known masterpieces.<\/p>\n Casadio, a chemist, said the 19th century saw an explosion of color, and Van Gogh infused his colors with his emotions. But after Casadio examined the color around the edges of the painting that had been protected by the frame and analyzed the molecular composition of the color, it was clear the red in the pigment had faded. Add red to the pigment of the seemingly blue walls and you get purple.<\/p>\n The exhibit shows how science suggests the paintings originally looked.<\/p>\n Casadio highlighted some of the techniques during a Feb. 1 tour for Northwestern students.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bedroom\u201d pieces were painted by Van Gogh during three distinct periods: the first (from the Amsterdam collection) shortly\u00a0after moving into his home in Arles, France in 1888, the second (at the Art Institute) during his stay at a Saint-Remy\u00a0asylum in 1889, and the smaller, third painting (from Paris) a few weeks after he made the second. The three\u00a0works are filled with Van Gogh\u2019s distinct use of color, which was an extremely important tool to the artist.<\/p>\n The Art Institute began research on \u201cThe Bedroom\u201d paintings in 2008. Since then, various\u00a0techniques have been utilized to discover new information and detail hidden in the paintings.<\/p>\n In order to read the pigments, they need to be inorganic. These mineral based pigments are much\u00a0like bones, dense enough to show up. Organic pigments, on the other hand, function like human\u00a0skin and are transparent, Casadio said.<\/p>\n
![\"Clementine](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AClementine_Hunter_-_Funeral_Procession_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg\")
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