Van Gogh Museum dims ligths as paintings deteriorate

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has dimmed the lighting in the museum to preserve the paintings of Vincent van Gogh. Some of the artist's works are already fading.

The red paint in a number of works by the famous painter is especially problematic, the NTR program De Kennis van Nu reports. The work called Field with Irises in Arles (Veld met Irissen bij Arles - 1888) was mentioned as an example. The irises in the painting were once purple, but are now blue. This is caused by light damaging the red paint pigments. If the museum continued the lighting as before, the paint on number of works would have practically disappeared within a few decades. Less lighting can slow this process. Another option would be to exhibit the paintings less often.