Toxic masterpieces of art
Over the centuries, many artists have handled, often unknowingly, extremely toxic products which, although not harmful to their own health, can sometimes pose a risk to museum visitors.
Rembrandt used a layer of anti-mold lead, Damien Hirst “played” with gas vapors, Raoul Dufy with asbestos, and Niki de Saint Phalle with resin.
Lead in Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch”
Since 2019, Rembrandt’s prodigious masterpiece, “The Night Watch” (1642), has undergone a major restoration operation, carried out right in the heart of the main gallery of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, under the intrigued glances of visitors. After using artificial intelligence to reconstruct the missing edges of the work, researchers X-rayed it, revealing a layer of lead: a surprising discovery, to say the least, and one that had never been made before in the work of the Golden Age master. For scientists, it is very likely that Rembrandt preferred to cover his painting with lead instead of glue to protect it from moisture and mold: a real innovation for that time.
Deadly plastic at Niki de Saint Phalle
True hymns to joy and freedom, the “Nanas,” voluptuous and colorful sculptures of women, are emblematic of Niki de Saint Phalle’s work. What is less well known, however, is that they are also responsible for the artist’s death. For her work beginning in the 1960s, the artist opted for a material that, when handled without protection, can be hazardous to health: polyester. Niki de Saint Phalle, who worked without a mask (at the time, plastic resin was not known to be dangerous), breathed in this toxic resin for many years. When she was only 40 years old, she developed severe pulmonary insufficiency—a condition she suffered from for the rest of her life.
Carcinogenic gas at Damien Hirst
In 2012, Tate Modern organised a major retrospective dedicated to the most controversial of British artists: Damien Hirst. Over 460,000 visitors gathered at the museum. The problem: at the time, no one knew that some of the works in the exhibition could pose a potential health risk. In 2016, a study led by Italian Pier Giorgio Righetti from the Politecnico di Milano and published in the journal Analytical Methods showed that the tank containing the works “Away from the Flock” (1994) and “Mother and Child (Divided)” (1993) (respectively, a lamb and a cow with her calves, cut in half and immersed in formaldehyde) emitted formaldehyde—a flammable and carcinogenic gas—ten times more than the authorized limit.
Toxic pigments in the „Mona Lisa”
„The Mona Lisa” (1503-1519), Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous portrait, contains toxic pigments. This was revealed by researchers at the CNRS in October 2023, after they observed the presence of a mineral containing lead oxide, a particularly harmful substance that the Renaissance master mixed into his oil paint. Why did he do this? To soften the material and make it dry faster. Parallel research on “La Cène” (1495-1498), a masterpiece in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, also revealed the presence of lead oxide.
Asbestos in Raoul Dufy’s fresco “La Fée Électricité”
“La Fée Électricité”, created for the Palais de la Lumière et l’Électricité at the 1937 World’s Fair, this work celebrating electricity and progress, is Raoul Dufy’s greatest masterpiece. To avoid the risk of fire, the company that commissioned the work, Compagnie parisienne d’électricité, decided at the time to carry out preventive treatment with asbestos… An innovative method at the time, but one which, almost seventy years later, forced the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, where the work has been installed since 1964, to undertake a colossal five-year asbestos removal project. The cost: €800,000.
