Study of the Painting Materials Used in the Painting “Scene From Tahitian Life” by Paul Gauguin from the Collection of the State Hermitage

The results of studying the painting materials of Paul Gauguin’s painting “Scene from Tahitian Life,” painted in 1896, are presented. The choice of the canvas is determined by the degree of preservation, which gave it the appearance of a badly damaged exhibit item. The study makes it possible to identify the reasons for the poor state of painting of this canvas and to obtain information about the details of Paul Gauguin’s approach to the creation of paintings of the second Tahitian period (1896–1901). The method of polarization microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis are used to study the stratigraphy, and the pigment composition of the paint layers and primer of the painting. The composition of the cloudy film on the surface of the painting is studied using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. It is established that the painting was painted on thick, coarse-grained linen canvas with plain weave; aluminum silicate (kaolin) with a small content of potassium and iron aluminosilicates with the addition of a small amount of chalk was used as the primer. Pigments such as artificial ultramarine, cobalt blue, cinnabar, chromium yellow, zinc white and barite, lithopone (which is a mixture of the latter two pigments), ocher, red lead, lead white, chalk are revealed in the paint layers. It is determined that oil served as a binder for the primer and paint layers, and a broken-down film of beeswax is present on the surface of the painting. Based on the results obtained, a method for restoring the painting “Scene from Tahitian Life” is developed, which will find practical application in the study and restoration of other works by Gauguin from the collection of the State Hermitage.