A host of technological innovations, similar to those used in the fields of medicine and planetary exploration, are now being used to study works of art using non-invasive (no sampling, no damage), in situ analyses (on the historic site or in museums). The complexity of the materials used by artists is thus studied to provide information on artistic practices, as well as to help conserve works or assess their degree of authenticity.
The aim of these lectures is to show how these analytical tools help to translate and understand the artist's gesture in terms of the physical-chemical properties of pictorial matter, the work's interaction with light, visual perception and cultural reception by society. The evolution of artistic practices from prehistory to the 20thcentury can thus be related to that of scientific knowledge and successive inventions in the field of material sciences. Current developments in research combining chemistry and art history are helping to highlight, at the heart of the scientific approach, the role of materials in the creative gesture.
The lectures were followed by seminars with guest speakers, focusing on various aspects of research, not only in chemistry, but also in law, archaeology, literature and industry. Rather than focusing on one aspect of the lecture, these seminars provided an opportunity to complement it with a different viewpoint from a specific disciplinary field. Lastly, two lectures were held in the Collège de France's Marguerite de Navarre auditorium, to illustrate the lecture with case studies of works on loan.