All artwork changes over time. As physical objects, everyday concerns like weather, lighting, and heat can drastically alter how they look. Paintings are no exception. Depending on when a painting was made, who made it, and where it was kept after the artist’s last brushstroke, any number of daily concerns could transform the piece.
This is called the natural aging of a painting. Ignoring really dramatic damage like being burned in a fire or cut up with a knife, most paintings face all types of challenges in their day-to-day lives. Heat and humidity warp wood panels on and off. Light — even natural light — fades paints and dyes until they look transparent. Accidents happen, like people knocking into paintings and cracking the varnish. Sometimes small bugs get onto the paintings and leave acidic waste behind when they fly off, burning down into the painting after enough time has passed. Ultimately, paintings weather a lot and are constantly going through new changes as they naturally age and interact with the world.
But while all this change might be normal for a painting, it can also be terrifying.
If paintings are changing all the time, and getting hurt from something as simple as humidity, then what stops them from completely falling apart after a while? How do we preserve paintings for future audiences and students if they’re threatening to collapse at any moment?
These questions matter, and they’re a large part of what motivates museums to preserve and repair paintings in their collections. If they can use just the right tools and just the right methods to bring a painting back from the brink, then they can preserve its legacy for the next generation.