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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

The mystery of emerald green — cracked

‘Emerald’ or ‘Paris’ green was once a highly popular pigment among painters, but the chemistry behind its slow decay over time has been unclear.
A staff member stands on the right hand side of the frame and looks at the painting titled "The Intrigue, 1890"

The emerald green pigment in James Ensor’s 1890 painting, The Intrigue, has degraded over time. Credit: Stephen Chung/Alamy

Artists from Camille Pissarro to Edvard Munch loved the vivid shades of ‘emerald’ or ‘Paris’ green in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century — but paintings containing it have since distinctly lost their lustre. Now researchers understand why1.

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Nature 648, 10 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03876-x

References

  1. Carboni Marri, S. et al. Science Adv. 11, eady1807 (2025).

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