As temperatures rise, you can see the evidence all around, from brown lawns to dry creek beds.
With heat waves becoming more common, you might wonder: what would happen if works of art were exposed to those harsh conditions?
We talked to experts around Getty to find out how high climate temperatures affect art, how Getty keeps art cool and comfortable even in the strongest heat wave, and which types of art are unfazed by sunny days.
The Most Sensitive Art
First, a word of reassurance: art at Getty (and similar museums and institutions around the world) is safe from heat waves. Getty keeps all its galleries, conservation labs, and storage facilities at a carefully controlled temperature that prevents degradation caused by heat, while also taking cost, sustainability, and visitor comfort into account. Relative humidity is also controlled, since moisture levels, whether too high or too low, can also cause art materials to degrade.
An artwork’s environment must be so carefully controlled precisely because heat can harm many types of art. Heat speeds up chemical reactions, causing the chemical compounds that make up materials like paper, canvas, wood, and plastic to break down. Art made of organic materials—that is, materials derived from living things, such as plants used to make paper—is particularly vulnerable.
Canvas and wood, for example, may expand or contract in response to the amount of heat and moisture in the air. Panel paintings can be particularly sensitive to ambient humidity, and environmental shifts may cause cracks or splits to form in the wood, said Kari Rayner, associate conservator of paintings at the Getty Museum. Paint may also be affected by heat to varying degrees.
“While aged oil paint is not usually significantly affected by higher ambient temperatures, acrylic paint can soften or become sticky, imbibing dirt and grime, and the paint can sometimes exude components,” Rayner said.
Heat can cause paper to become weak and brittle, while a decrease in relative humidity can cause it to dry out and curl. Michelle Sullivan, associate conservator in paper conservation at the Getty Museum, said color photographs are kept in cold storage to slow heat-induced chemical reactions that fade dyes and degrade the plastic supports.
Art That Can Take the Heat
Not all types of art are equally affected by heat. Art created from inorganic compounds—or nonliving materials, such as stone, clay, gold, and gemstones—remains much more stable in hot climates. Built heritage, such as monuments and other structures, made of these materials can withstand hot climates for centuries. Many objects from antiquity that are at the Getty Villa, such as jewelry, marble statutes, and terracotta vases, would be relatively unharmed if exposed to hot days.
However, the paint that decorates these objects may still be vulnerable to heat and degrade over time, because binding media, the ingredient that is mixed with a dry pigment to form paint, is often organic.
“Binding media can be very sensitive to temperature, humidity, and light,” said Marie Svoboda, antiquities conservator at the Villa. “Organic materials break down, and when pigments lose their binder, they become fragile, powdery, and can flake off the surface of an artifact.”
Objects housed in the Villa are displayed and stored at a comfortable temperature, with humidity levels carefully controlled as well, since moisture can damage an object’s surface (moisture is particularly dangerous for metals like bronze and iron).
Caring for Outdoor Sculptures
The works of art most on the “front lines” of sunshine are, naturally, the outdoor sculptures at the Getty Center and Villa. The biggest concern with high temperatures is the softening of wax and acrylic coatings used to protect the surfaces of bronze sculptures. Getty conservators monitor these coatings and reapply them regularly.
“The bronzes themselves are not vulnerable until well over 1500°F, at which point we would have bigger problems,” said Robert Price, associate conservator of decorative arts and sculpture at the Getty Museum.
High temperatures and UV exposure can also accelerate the deterioration of paint films on metal sculptures like Alexander Calder’s The Jousters. However, the paint systems selected for these objects are reapplied every seven to 10 years and are designed to withstand intense conditions.
The bronze statues you see outdoors at the Villa are modern replicas of Roman sculptures (the originals are on view in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy), and even these undergo regular cleaning and maintenance.
Here in sunny Los Angeles, we can count on a few sweltering weeks (or months) every year. Though many types of art need to be protected from the sun and heat just as carefully as you might shield yourself, conservators have all the tools to keep art comfortable despite the sizzling temperatures.
