Research intended to change the properties of atoms, opened new chemical experimentation, which fueled companies like Dupont. Their controlled laboratory conditions produced new ways to manufacture art supplies.
Synthetic and Polymer-based Paints
Synthetic paints were first developed, and polymer-based acrylic paints first entered the market during the Atomic Age, the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear weapon at the Trinity site in New Mexico in 1945.
By the 1950s, artists began using quick-drying acrylics to avoid oil paint's considerably longer drying time. However, these new polymer-based acrylics had different color intensities than traditional oil or watercolor paints.
Modern Pigments and Colors
Modern oil paint colors were also created. These colors are not organic and are entirely man-made in a laboratory. Traditional pigments from the earth's minerals or crushed rocks were used to make paints for thousands of years until the U.S. government's Manhattan Research Project aimed to end the war by exploiting the newly recognized fission process for military purposes.
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| Image from Exploring Color by Nita Leland. |
This type of research intended to change the properties of atoms and opened new chemical experimentation, which fueled companies like Dupont. Their controlled laboratory conditions produced new ways to manufacture paints and modern paint colors.
Modern colors have a high intensity or brilliance that may appear unnatural. You rarely find a neon color in nature, but they are outside the normal color wheel because of their brightness compared to other colors. The best color wheel example that can be found to show the intensity of the modern colors on the color wheel comes from Nita Leland's Exploring Color Book.1
Some of the modern colors include:
- Dioxazine Purple
- Hansa Yellow (Light, Medium & Deep)
- Manganese Blue
- Napthol Scarlet
- Permanent Orange
- Phthalocyanine BlueB.N.N a.k.a. Phathlo Blue
- Phthalocyanine Green a.k.a. Phathlo Green
- Perylene Red
- Quinacridone Red
- Quinacridone Violet
Modern colors are also more transparent and great for glazing. In oil painting, specifically, adding white does not neutralize the mass tone, which is what happens with traditional mineral pigments.
