Paintings generally die hard. They are designed to last at least 100 years. Well maintained and stored in good conditions, a painting can last for several centuries. However, when they are hung indoors, or worse, when they have been in a dusty or humid room, the paintings can see their colors deteriorate quite quickly. Oil vapors from the kitchen, nicotine from tobacco, combined with dust, then form a layer which reduces the colors and shine of the paint. The maintenance of works of art must generally be entrusted to restoration specialists. We will see, however, that cleaning a painting is a fairly simple operation, provided that the canvas, paint and varnish have not suffered significant damage.
To assess the painting's restoration needs, you must first ensure the type of support, as well as the type of paint.
If it's oil painting on canvas and the colors seem just a little faded or yellowed, it might be worth cleaning up. Here are the steps to follow:
You will first need to remove the frame from the painting . Check on the edge that it is indeed a painting on canvas. Some works may have been painted on paper on canvas. In this case, traces of marouflage of the paper on the canvas are visible on the edge. If your table is in this case, we advise you not to go any further. The risk of destroying the work is too great. It is then better to entrust the restoration to a specialist, or to keep the work as is.
Acrylic paint is commonly used to paint pictures. This painting is very successful, especially for contemporary works of art. Acrylic paint is often not varnished. It is then necessary to take more precautions than in the case of oil painting.
Start by dry cleaning, or dusting, using a brush and a microfiber cloth. Dusting is generally enough to restore the shine to acrylic-painted paintings.
To clean a watercolor, our advice will be very simple: refrain! Aside from light dusting with a dry brush, watercolor cleaning operations should absolutely be entrusted to an art restoration professional.
The restoration of a watercolor is, in fact, complex and requires removing the cardboard, dry cleaning using special erasers (powder) then color solubility tests, to finally lead to cleaning processes sophisticated.
To summarize, cleaning an oil painting is not very complicated provided that it is not damaged and that you have a little time on your hands.
Cleaning a painting painted with acrylic remains possible, although more delicate.
Cleaning a watercolor is strongly discouraged. The only solution remains to call a professional.
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