Imaging Paintings at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Picture from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Barbara_Museum_of_Art#/media/File:1940s_Facade_Before_Wing_PHOTOSHOPPED.jpg

Looking more closely at the painted surface

MegaVision’s work at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art included imaging associated with Claude Monet’s Villas at Bordighera as well as Paul Gauguin, Berthe Morisot, etc. The project brings the company’s cultural-heritage imaging work into the examination of paintings, complementing its applications in manuscripts and historical documents.

A painting with a wider story

The museum’s Villas at Bordighera belongs to Claude Monet’s exploration of the Italian Riviera in 1884. Painted on location, it later served as the basis for a larger decorative work made in his studio at Giverny, now held by the Musée d’Orsay. This relationship makes the Santa Barbara painting an important point of reference for understanding how the artist developed a landscape study into a larger composition.

MegaVision’s contribution

MegaVision contributed as part of the examination and documentation of the artworks using the high resolution, accurate color, EV Spectral Imaging System.

Further reading: The Musée d’Orsay’s account of the relationship between the two paintings