Today, the Museu Carmen Thyssen Andorra invites you to discover a brand-new secret hidden in the exhibition: “INFLUENCERS in art. From Van Goyen to Pop Art” through the work “Moonrise on the Banks of the River Oise“, 1874, by the French artist Charles-François Daubigny.
Considered, along with Gustave Courbet, as an artist hinge between Romanticism and Impressionism, Charles-François Daubigny is a member and representative of the Barbizon school. This great artistic center of the second half of the 19th century is known for its representations of nature using the newest outdoor techniques.
Nevertheless, the conservation of Daubigny’s poetically impregnated landscapes, as well as his work on backlighting effects, are being maintained thanks to various restorations, in this case the installation of reinforcing strips and the cleaning of the work.
Reinforcement of paintings is a restoration technique that has been known for centuries and is applied to the supports of the works themselves. This intervention, which aims to maintain and reinforce the support, is necessary when the pictorial base of the works (usually canvas or wood) is altered or modified due to the passage of time or in response to the environment of the work. With the application of this technique, the canvas is stabilized, thus avoiding the deterioration of the pigments applied on it.
In front of cases of alteration of the pictorial base and according to their gravity, restorers have the possibility to intervene in different ways. For severe deterioration, they can reduce the size of the works, transpose them to a new support or double the canvas.
In the case of Daubigny’s work, the restorers have positioned wooden reinforcements on the upper part of the work to prevent movement of the canvas and thus preventively preserve the paint affixed to it.
The second stage of the restoration is cleaning. This operation, which can range from simple dusting to chemical cleaning of the works, removes dirt, pollution or excess moisture from the surface to avoid irreversible damage to the painting.
Thanks to the actions of the restorers, applied exclusively for the exhibition “INFLUENCERS in Art. From Van Goyen to Pop Art“, visitors can continue to enjoy Charles-François Daubigny’s 1874 work “Moonrise on the banks of the River Oise“,in the best possible conditions.
