On the occasion of the exhibition ‘Ultra-Violet: New Light on Van Gogh’s Irises‘ (October 1, 2024 – January 19, 2025), the Getty Center in Los Angeles collaborated with Factum Foundation to create a facsimile of one of Vincent Van Gogh’s most renowned paintings within the institute’s collection. Parts of the painting have changed over time due to light and UV exposure and the facsimile proposes a recreation of the original colours, after careful investigation by the Getty Conservation Institute.
Analysis of the pigments used by Van Gogh and how he applied them lead to interesting conversations and unexpected results. In a letter to his brother Theo, Vincent spoke about a painting of “violet irises” – however, the irises in the painting today look blue. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy on the painting revealed markers for geranium lake, a popular but light-sensitive red pigment which Van Gogh used to mix violet and ultimately lead to the flowers’ blue hue today after its degradation.
The 3D surface of the facsimile was created using high-resolution photogrammetry data recorded and provided by the Getty, who also carefully recreated the irises’ lost violet hue following the investigation of the original colour and lighting conditions during the painting’s creation. The digital data was materialised using elevated printing, a technology that Factum Foundation has been using and refining since 2018 as part of a collaboration with Canon Production Printing. The material surface was then moulded to make a gesso skin that was colour-printed and stretched over canvas before varnishing.
