How Shemistry Influenced the History and Presentation of Art

Chemistry is everywhere in our life. Of course, chemistry is also closely related to art. There are many forms of art, such as oil painting, gouache, watercolor and so on. These painting forms are inseparable from products such as pigments and watercolors, which are based on chemical substances and ingredients. Therefore, without chemistry, there would be no colorful pigments, we would not be able to create all kinds of colorful paintings, record beautiful scenery or abstract art pictures, or save them on paper. Without chemistry, human beings would not have such great artistic achievements or various painting forms. Chemistry has a great impact on the history and presentation of art.

Pigments are soluble and insoluble, inorganic and organic. Inorganic pigments are generally mineral substances. People have known for a long time that inorganic pigments are used to paint and smear the body on the rock wall with colored soil and ore. Organic pigments are generally derived from plants and marine animals, such as Ceylon, rattan, and the ancient Roman purple extracted from shellfish. Synthetic pigments are synthesized by artificial methods, such as titanium dioxide, lithopone, lead chrome yellow, iron blue and other inorganic pigments, as well as organic pigments such as red powder, even light yellow, phthalocyanine blue, quinacridone and so on. According to the different crystal types, titanium dioxide can be divided into rutile type and anatase type. Rutile titanium dioxide has good stability and is widely used in coating industry. Anatase is easy to pulverize, mainly used in paper making and chemical fiber. The production of pigment is based on chemistry, and the composition of pigment must also have chemical composition.

The composition of pigment is mainly related to chemical elements. To make oil painting pigment, we need a variety of binders, such as colorants, fillers, cementitious agents, wetting agents, preservatives and so on. Colorant - a very fine pigment powder milled by a ball mill. Fillers - mainly various white pigments or wheat starch, etc. Gum - dextrin, gum, etc. Preservative - carbolic acid or formalin.

The origin of oil painting material is a kind of painting material, which is formed by blending transparent vegetable oil with pigments and creating artistic images on the materials such as cloth, paper and wood board. It originated and developed in Europe, and became an important painting material in the world in modern times. Produced before the 15th century in European painting tempera painting is the predecessor of oil painting materials. The main color carriers used in oil painting are linseed oil, walnut oil, poppy oil, safflower oil and sunflower seed oil. They make the paint dry and film-forming by oxidation in the air. There is almost no obvious difference between the color of oil painting after drying and when it is wet, which is also one of the main advantages of oil painting. In addition to pigment and carrier, according to the performance of different pigments and pigment specifications, a certain proportion of auxiliary materials such as molding agent, filler, stabilizer, drier and luster agent should be added to the pigment during production. Wax, aluminum stearate, etc. can be added to the pigment to maintain a stable consistency and increase plasticity. Chemistry has a great influence on art. If there is no chemistry, there will be no art in painting tools and present form.