The Colors of Keith Haring: A Spectroscopic Study on the Materials of the Mural Painting Tuttomondo and on Reference Contemporary Outdoor Paints

Costanza Cucci; Giovanni Bartolozzi; Marco De Vita; Veronica Marchiafava; Marcello Picollo; Francesca Casadio

doi:10.1177/0003702815615346

The Colors of Keith Haring: A Spectroscopic Study on the Materials of the Mural Painting Tuttomondo and on Reference Contemporary Outdoor Paints

Appl Spectrosc. 2016 Jan;70(1):186-96. doi: 10.1177/0003702815615346.

Authors

Costanza Cucci¹, Giovanni Bartolozzi², Marco De Vita², Veronica Marchiafava², Marcello Picollo², Francesca Casadio³

Affiliations

¹ Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara" del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IFAC-CNR), Sesto Fiorentino, Italy c.cucci@ifac.cnr.it.
² Istituto di Fisica Applicata "Nello Carrara" del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IFAC-CNR), Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
³ The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA.

PMID: 26767644
DOI: 10.1177/0003702815615346

Abstract

To date, little attention has been given to the scientific investigation of modern and contemporary mural paintings. This paper reports on: (1) the in situ spectroscopic analyses of the mural Tuttomondo (1989) painted by Keith Haring (1958-1990) in Pisa (Italy); and (2) the laboratory characterization of acrylic paints produced by Caparol Italy GmbH & Co., the original supplier of paint materials to the artist for the mural. Ultraviolet (UV), visible (Vis), and near-infrared (NIR) fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) measurements were carried out in situ. The Caparol paint samples were characterized using benchtop instrumentation including both dispersive and Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR; with sample pre-treatment to remove filler interference in the fingerprint region), and UV-Vis-NIR FORS. This combined analytical approach confirmed that the materials used by Haring for the mural Tuttomondo have the same composition of the new Caparol acrylic paints, except for the case of the yellow pigment. This information offers valuable documentation for the materials history and for the conservation of a mural painting that is considered the last great public work by Haring.

Keywords: Acrylic paints; FORS; FT-IR spectroscopy; Fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy; Fourier transform infrared; Keith Haring; Raman spectroscopy; Tuttomondo mural painting; UV-Vis-NIR; Ultraviolet--visible near-infrared spectroscopy.