Jackson Pollock was a famous American painter best known for his abstract expressionism, including the “drip and splash” and the “all-over” style of painting (which look exactly like they sound). Now we finally know the chemical origin of the blue color he splattered onto his iconic Number 1A, 1948.
Researchers investigated the vibrant pigment via laser spectroscopy, a technique scientists use to investigate matter at the atomic level. With this approach, they revealed it to be manganese blue, a now discontinued turquoise-ish pigment. They detail their work in a study published Monday in the journal PNAS, which represents Pollock’s first confirmed use of the pigment.
A bygone pigment
“Number 1A, 1948 by Jackson Pollock is a quintessential example of his action painting technique where ropes of color, drips of black, and pools of white coalesce into the layered dynamism that defines his style,” the researchers wrote in the paper. “While past work has identified the red and yellow pigments that form part of his core palette, the vibrant blue in the painting has remained unassigned.”
Pigments are chemicals. Manganese blue, for example, is the chemical barium manganate (VI) sulfate, Abed Haddad, another co-author of the study and an assistant conservation scientist at the MoMA, told Gizmodo in an email. It was discovered in 1907 and first patented in 1935. Artists used the pigment frequently until it was phased out by the 1990s due to environmental and health concerns.
A hue, on the other hand, is the color that we see, Haddad continued. Different pigments can be mixed together to create a hue similar to that of the discontinued manganese blue, which is why the color is still available in stores. The combination of a blue pigment and a yellow pigment, for example, creates a green hue—not a green pigment.
The chemistry of color
Haddad and his colleagues also investigated the chemistry that allows for the pigment’s unique color. Manganese blue molecules consist of “a manganese ion [a charged atom] surrounded by four oxide ions,” Edward Solomon, another co-author of the study and a chemist from Stanford University, told Gizmodo in an email. “The blue color derives from the absorption of light in the purple and green regions (allowing the reflected blue color of the spectrum)” when light causes an electron to move from the oxide ion to the manganese ion.
But what, besides addressing a niche curiosity, is the point of identifying the exact chemical compound of a pigment?
In the context of conservation, “this knowledge can be crucial for developing effective display strategies, since many pigments are sensitive to environmental factors such as intense light, ultraviolet radiation, and humidity fluctuations,” Haddad explained. “Furthermore, pigment identification can help determine suitable treatment options, as some chemical conditions might react adversely with specific pigments.”
In that spirit, a note to all artists: Have pity on future conservationists, and leave a record of the pigments you use in your paintings.
English (US) ·