The same simple painting young and old: the old one has yellowed, is crossed by a network of cracks, and shows an earlier painted-out circle through the paint; young oil is flexible, old oil harder and more brittle.

Concept · Over Time

How Oil Ages

Old oil paint is stiffer than new, and it can yellow and turn see-through.

Brittle paint cracks as the canvas swells and shrinks with humidity; paint on a rigid panel cracks less. The example that follows is an extreme case.

  • Transparency comes mainly from metal soaps, which form when lead or zinc in pigments reacts with the oil.
  • Yellowing that builds up in the dark largely clears after a short time in daylight, one study found.

See

Image: Made for this site · Original work

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