"Flesh Is The Reason Oil Painting was Invented"

This quote by William de Kooning has gone overlooked in the past years, yet it is an important argument to consider. This quote suggests that oil paint is the perfect medium with which we can achieve the concept of flesh. When we think of our favorite oil paintings, or perhaps the most famous, flesh often appears in the overall composition (such as in the notoriously famous example below).

The masterful usage of oil to create such a delicate facial expression overtakes any viewer. But Leonardo da Vinci's ornate work is not only thanks to his chosen medium, the color palette helps enhance the realistic side of the Mona Lisa's flesh.

In this painting the subject's skin is created by the mixing of pale and soft hues, creating an overall sensory effect. Parts of her body like her cheeks, chin and especially her fingers are painted with a touch of red and peachy colors in order to indicate pressure in the flesh. Furthermore the use of brown tones in the dimples and crevices of the face ensure that we are seeing the correct anatomy of a woman's face.

However, this is just one example. If we wanted to look at a more abstract example of oil painting being used for flesh, we might find a similar pattern.

This painting by Pablo Picasso has a similar overall composition to that of da Vinci's, in that it represents a portrait of an elegant woman. However, the technique and style it was painted in differs greatly.

In this example there is an astounding amount of hues and textures, all working together to represent the concept of flesh. The bright and almost neon-looking yellow immediately captures viewers' attention, dominating the centre of the image. This color works in conjunction with violet, sunset red and ivory white, all used in the careful depiction of this surreal skin tone.

While both these two examples were created with oil paint, it is important to note that acrylic paint can result in an equally significant effect.

I think all of us have seen this work by Andy Warhol and can recognise that the interesting depiction of the celebrity Marilyn Monroe's flesh is just as skilful as the other two we looked at above. And we can acknowledge that not only was this created with acrylic paint, but it also requires no blending of colors to represent the image of flesh. This suggests that simply by applying acrylic paint to a canvas with no variations of hues within the skin tone, audiences can recognise that what is being depicted is in fact flesh.

As I have demonstrated, while there are elements of oil paint that are capable of successfully representing flesh, it is too much of an overstatement to say that oil paint was created for the sole purpose of representing flesh. I have already shown that an acrylic medium can result in an equally powerful rendering of skin tone, and that other factors such as the combination of different colors are capable of effectively representing human flesh.