Impasto
Impasto (Italian: "mixture") is a painting technique in which the colors are applied very thickly. You can see the brushstrokes or the marks of the painter's knife clearly. The paint can also be applied so thick that individual colors are mixed directly on the painting surface and not on the palette. After drying, the relief-like structure is retained.
Because of their rather thick consistency and their long drying time, which can be extended by adding linseed oil , oil paint is particularly popular for impasto. Also acrylic paint can be used, while the short drying time of the paint is often extended by respective mediums. Because of their liquid consistency, water or tempera paints cannot be used for impasto.
The impasto technique is mainly used for two reasons. On the one hand, the light is reflected by the surface structure, the artist can specifically influence the incidence of light. On the other hand, the picture receives power and dynamism, the viewer can recognize the brushwork, the speed and the strength of the paint application. Painters such as Rembrandt or Tizian used the impasto technique primarily to influence the light in their paintings, the folds of clothing or jewelry were given the desired plasticity. In later times the expressiveness of the impasto was a reason for its use. Vincent van Gogh used impasto frequently. The work of the English painter Frank Auerbach , who creates almost three-dimensional pictures with Impasto, can serve as a modern example .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Impasto. In: Angela Weyer et al. (Ed.): EwaGlos. European Illustrated Glossary Of Conservation Terms For Wall Paintings And Architectural Surfaces . English Definitions with translations into Bulgarian, Croatian, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish and Turkish. Michael Imhof, Petersberg 2015, ISBN 978-3-7319-0260-7 , p. 100 ( download ).