Oil paint

Oil paint is a pigment dispersed in a drying oil, most often linseed oil. It forms a durable film as the oil reacts with oxygen and hardens.

Drying oil: A vegetable oil that hardens through chemical reactions with oxygen after exposure to air. Its oxidative hardening turns the liquid binder into oil paint’s solid film.
Pigment: A finely divided colored material that gives paint its hue and may also affect its opacity and texture. Pigment supplies oil paint’s color while the oil binds its particles into a film.
Jan van Eyck: A fifteenth-century Flemish painter celebrated for technically refined works made with oil-based paint. His paintings exemplify the luminous detail associated with early Northern European oil painting.
Glazing (painting technique): A painting technique that lays a thin, transparent layer of paint over a dry underlying layer. Transparent oil glazes deepen color while allowing underlying layers to remain visible.
Linseed oil: An oil pressed from flax seeds that dries into a solid film through oxidation. It is the most common binder in traditional oil paint.
Ground (painting): A preparatory coating applied to a support to create a suitable surface for painting. A ground controls how oil paint adheres to and interacts with its support.
Tempera: A paint made by mixing pigment with a water-soluble binder, commonly egg yolk. Tempera dries quickly, unlike the slower-working oil paint that increasingly supplanted it.
Alla prima: A painting method in which an artwork is completed in one session, while the paint remains wet. Oil paint’s long open time makes wet-on-wet alla prima handling possible.
Oxidative curing: The hardening of a material through reactions with oxygen, often involving cross-linking of molecules. It explains why oil paint hardens without simply evaporating like a water-based paint.
Canvas: A strong woven fabric used as a flexible support for painting. Canvas is a common support, usually prepared before oil paint is applied.

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