Soulages’ Peinture 12 March 1960: diagnostic analytical studies and tentative consolidation of major curled-up delamination areas

The paper describes one of the most extreme forms of delamination seen in works by Pierre Soulages. It concerns a painting titled with its date of creation Peinture, 162 x 200 cm, 12 Mars 1960 presently in the Sarah Hildén Museum in Tampere Finland. The delaminating surface paint has formed open wounds with curled up paint revealing an interface with the commercial ground where loss of cohesion started. Simultaneously, the upper bone black paint layer is forming acidic oxidized oil-derived exudates that also penetrate the lower paint layers. Imaging microscopic and spectroscopic methods reveal details of a dynamic process of delamination with paint consistency changes and mixing of layers near the delaminating interface during loss of cohesion. First successful experimental consolidation tests to reverse the open wounds were successfully carried out.