Light decodes French artist Gauguin's creative process

A team of scientists and art conservators from Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago, the US has used a simple light bulb, an SLR camera and computational power to uncover new details of famous French artist Paul Gauguin's creative process.

Gauguin used printmaking process to make 19 unique graphic works, now available in the art institute's collection.

The team studied the 3D surface of the work "Nativity (Mother and Child Surrounded by Five Figures)," made by Gauguin in 1902.

For the study, the piece was fixed in place as was an SLR camera.

A light bulb was moved to 20 different locations and a photo taken of the artwork for each light bulb position.

The digital data for each pixel of each image then was run through a software.

The new results establish Gauguin's use of materials and process in a chronological order, solving the puzzle of how "Nativity" was made.

Gauguin created the print using a layering of images created on paper by drawings, transfer of images and two different inks.

"To measure the 3D surface of the prints, we used some very accessible techniques that can be used by art conservators and historians around the world to analyse artworks," explained Northwestern computer scientist Oliver S. Cossairt.

"Gauguin died more than a century ago but there is still something to say, something new to find out, in large part due to this teamwork," added Harriet Stratis, senior research conservator at the art institute.

Cossairt presented the findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in San Jose, California.