The Secrets of Painting The Hidden Art of the Masterpiece from Prehistory to Today

When looking at a work of art, the first question that painter Lachlan Goudie considers is not why but how was it created?

Goudie knows from experience that masterpieces don’t simply emerge from an artist’s studio. They are the result of a long tussle between dirty hands and crushed pigment, hog’s-hair brushes and linseed oil, rabbit-­skin glue and pulverized chalk. Great paintings are the product of a struggle involving artists and their materials, one that pushes the practitioner to the very limits of technical ability.

Above all else, the secrets of painting lie in the physical elements from which an image is crafted. The nature of these elements has changed over time and across continents. And as each generation of painters exploits the new materials and technical innovations of their era, they define the essence of their work and shift the course of art history.

Goudie traces this story all the way back to the original “big bang” in the story of art: the very first painting pigments, made from charcoal and minerals, and used to paint extraordinary art on the walls of the caves at Chauvet thirty-­six thousand years ago. He goes on to explore the impact of numerous new inventions and discoveries over the centuries, including ink, fresco, egg tempera, oil paint, canvas, watercolor, gouache, impasto, tubes of manufactured oil paint, collage, household gloss, acrylic, digital media, and AI. Each chapter focuses on a technical turning point, as embodied in the work of artists including Giotto, Artemisia Gentileschi, Alma Thomas, Anselm Kiefer, David Hockney, and many more.