How to care for an oil painting
Table of contents
An oil painting needs no elaborate care. It needs a few simple conditions and the absence of a few specific mistakes. Observe them and the work will outlive you, your children, and in all likelihood your grandchildren.
What follows is what an owner should know.
Light
Direct sun is the principal enemy of painting. Ultraviolet breaks down the binder film and bleaches pigments, and it does so unevenly: some colours hold for decades, others fade in a few years.
The rule is simple: no direct sunbeam should fall on the painting. Diffuse daylight does no harm. If the wall faces a window, either move the work or diffuse the light at the window.
Artificial light is safer, but not all of it. Halogen lamps give off heat and at close range can warm the paint layer locally. LEDs neither heat nor emit ultraviolet — the best option.
Humidity and temperature
A canvas is fabric stretched over wood. Both fabric and wood respond to moisture: they swell and contract. The paint layer does not keep pace with them.
The comfortable range is 40–60 percent humidity and 18–24 degrees. The exact figures matter less than stability: a painting will take slow seasonal drift, but abrupt swings are harder on it.
Hence the places not to hang it:
Above a radiator or fireplace. Rising warm air creates a constant dry current straight along the canvas.
In a bathroom or above a kitchen hob. Steam, grease, sharp swings in humidity.
On the external wall of an unheated room. In winter such a wall is colder than the air, and moisture condenses on it.
In a newly built or newly renovated house. Fresh concrete and plaster give off moisture for months.
Dust
Dust settles on every surface, and on textured painting particularly: it accumulates faster in the hollows between brushstrokes.
Remove it with a dry soft brush, working downwards, without pressure. A wide powder brush or a purpose-made picture brush will do. Once every few months is enough.
What never to do:
- do not wash with water or any liquid
- do not wipe with a damp cloth or tissue
- do not use household cleaners, alcohol or solvents
- do not vacuum, not even on the lowest setting
- do not touch the surface with your fingers — grease stays and attracts dust
If there is more than dust on the painting — stains, darkening, bloom — that is a matter for a conservator. Attempts to fix it yourself almost always make it worse.
Hanging
The fixing must carry the weight with margin. A work of 100 × 140 cm on linen weighs several kilograms with its stretcher, more in a frame.
Two hooks are better than one: the canvas hangs level and does not swing. Leave a small gap between wall and stretcher for air circulation — cork pads on the lower stretcher corners solve this.
Do not press the work flush to the wall and do not run cables behind it.
Transport and storage
If a painting has to be moved, pack it as it would be packed for sale: a neutral material that will not stick to the paint, then rigid board to hold the geometry, then cushioning, and a rigid box outside.
Never roll a canvas that has already been stretched and dried. The paint layer cracks when rolled.
For longer storage, keep paintings upright, face to face and back to back, with separators between them. Flat only if there is no alternative, and with nothing on top.
Varnish: when and why
If you bought a fresh work without varnish, it should be varnished after about a year. That is a job for the artist or a conservator rather than the owner: it requires an even layer, the right varnish and a ventilated room.
After some decades varnish darkens and yellows. A conservator removes the old layer and applies a new one, and the painting returns to its original appearance. This is exactly why museum works from the seventeenth century look the way they do.
Insurance
If the work represents meaningful money, it is worth adding to your policy. Standard home contents cover usually has a single-item limit that a painting may exceed.
You will need the certificate of authenticity and the artist's invoice. Keep them together and make digital copies.
Frequently asked questions
Can a painting hang in an air-conditioned room?
Yes — air conditioning is actually helpful, since it stabilises humidity and temperature. Just make sure the airflow is not directed straight at the canvas.
What if the canvas has slackened?
There are keys in the corners of the stretcher. A light tap with a hammer on each expands the stretcher and takes up the slack. Do it symmetrically and in very small increments. If in doubt, see a conservator.
Can oil paintings hang in a bedroom?
Yes, there are no restrictions. A fully dried oil painting gives off nothing and has no smell. The smell of a fresh work lasts a few weeks and then goes.
How long does a painting last with normal care?
Centuries. Oil on canvas is the most durable of painting techniques, and in the absence of gross errors it has no expiry date.
If something has happened to your painting, or a question about care comes up, write to me. I can advise at a distance, and if needed I can point you to a conservator in Warsaw.
