History and Developments in Oil Painting

The original painting technique started with sketching of the figure on a canvas surface with charcoal. Later, thin oil materials were used and oil painting was born. The traditional oils used for oil painting were linseed oil, turpentine, and mineral spirits or other solvents. These oils helped in creating a thin, fast-drying paint. The paint was applied to the painting surface with the help of paint brushes but rags and palette knives were also used. Since oil paints dried due to oxidization instead of evaporation, it would take one day to a week or more for the paint to be fully dry. However, conservators of art materials and oil paintings had made a norm that the oil paintings are completely dry only after 60 or 80 years.

Researches on the origin of oil paintings suggest that they spread from Afghanistan to the West. The first mention of oil paintings in Europe was by Theophilus in his book, ‘On Various Arts’ in 1125. Still, it is generally believed that the regular use of oil as a painting medium was in the fifteenth century Netherlands paintings. This practice spread through the rest of the North Europe region, finally reaching Italy. Venice in Italy emerged as a major center for oil paintings.

Even though oil painting became popular in Europe in the fifteenth century, its rapid development in Europe occurred only in the seventeenth century. The painters during this period explored the medium of oil painting to express various natural and social elements that were part of human life in that period. The main categories of oil painting included history, religion, portraits, and landscapes. The main oil painting schools in the nineteenth century were Realism, Romanticism, Photorealism, Impressionism, Postimpressionism, and Factualism. The twentieth century witnessed development of further oil painting schools, such as Abstractionism, Futurism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Dadaism.

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I write articles about oil paintings, which is called oljemalerier in our language. You can read more about oil paintings on our website www.aspektkunst.no/maleri

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