Marie Gicquel / Photo credit: ANGELA WEISS / AFP 08:02, May 09, 2023

Art lovers knew about paintings that crackle; Here are the paintings that ooze. Several paintings by Pierre Soulages, the recently deceased master of the Outrenoir, literally began to flow. To understand the evil that affects these priceless works, a CNRS team conducted the investigation. And the explanation is scientific.

Mourning paintings that mourn their master who died a few months ago. The tribute seems too beautiful. If some paintings shaped by the hands of Pierre Soulages more than 60 years ago seem to liquefy and look like tar, the reason is scientific for Benoît Decron, the director of the Pierre Soulages Museum in Rodez. "In the 50s, Soulages and a number of artists of his generation, used a dryer, an element to dry the paint. But instead of drying it as planned, this siccative tended to liquefy the material," he explains.

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The paintings of a specific era

For the moment, three paintings of the master kept at the Museum of Slaughterhouses in Toulouse are concerned by this problem of oozing. At the museum of Rodez, we seek to reassure. "Collectors and lovers of Soulages can rest assured, the works of Soulages will not liquefy. It's not magic, it's part of the life of the works," reassures Benoît Decron.

The phenomenon affects the paintings of a specific era. No risk with the next exhibition of the museum, scheduled for June, on the last works of the master of Rodez.