{"id":234852,"date":"2025-09-17T22:19:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T22:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/234852\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T22:19:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T22:19:12","slug":"scientists-identify-rare-blue-pigment-in-iconic-jackson-pollock-painting-but-its-now-off-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/234852\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Identify Rare Blue Pigment in Iconic Jackson Pollock Painting\u2014But It\u2019s Now Off-Limits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jackson Pollock<\/a> was a famous American painter best known for his abstract expressionism, including the \u201cdrip and splash\u201d and the \u201call-over\u201d 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Researchers investigated the vibrant pigment via laser spectroscopy<\/a>, 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<\/a> published Monday in the journal PNAS, which represents Pollock\u2019s first confirmed use of the pigment.<\/p>\n

A bygone pigment <\/p>\n

\u201cNumber 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,\u201d the researchers wrote in the paper. \u201cWhile 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2014not a green pigment.<\/p>\n

The chemistry of color <\/p>\n

Haddad and his colleagues also investigated the chemistry that allows for the pigment\u2019s unique color. Manganese blue molecules consist of \u201ca manganese ion<\/a> [a charged atom] surrounded by four oxide ions,\u201d Edward Solomon, another co-author of the study and a chemist from Stanford University, told Gizmodo in an email. \u201cThe blue color derives from the absorption of light in the purple and green regions (allowing the reflected blue color of the spectrum)\u201d when light causes an electron to move from the oxide ion to the manganese ion.<\/p>\n

But what, besides addressing a niche curiosity, is the point of identifying the exact chemical compound of a pigment?<\/p>\n

In the context of conservation, \u201cthis 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,\u201d Haddad explained. \u201cFurthermore, pigment identification can help determine suitable treatment options, as some chemical conditions might react adversely with specific pigments.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that spirit, a note to all artists: Have pity on future conservators, and leave a record of the pigments you use in your paintings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jackson Pollock was a famous American painter best known for his abstract expressionism, including the \u201cdrip and splash\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":234853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,4788,1033,171,8143,1069,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-234852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-conservation","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-light","14":"tag-painting","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115221965646324940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}