news 2023

New research has revealed that Rembrandt impregnated the canvas for his famous 1642 militia painting 'The Night Watch' with a lead-containing substance even before applying the first ground layer. Such lead-based impregnation has never before been observed with Rembrandt or his contemporaries. The discovery , published today in Science Advances, underlines Rembrandt's inventive way of working, in which he did not shy away from using new techniques.

The mystery of the Mona Lisa lies not so much in her smile as in the painting techniques used by Leonardo da Vinci. Artist, engineer and architect, da Vinci was also an experimental chemist, with the Mona Lisa being his veritable laboratory.

Man-made works of art, however, are viewed more positively. Computers and artificial intelligence (AI) are also becoming increasingly important in the art world. AI-generated artworks fetch millions at auction, and artists routinely use algorithms to generate aesthetic content. A team of scientists at the University of Vienna has now been able to show through experiments that, contrary to common assumptions, people perceive emotions and intentions when viewing art even if they know that the work was generated by a computer.

Today, the latest animated film Elemental from Walt Disney Studios and Pixar Animation Studio is released in Swiss cinemas. The film revolves around the fiery Ember, who lives in Element City - a place where fire, water, earth and air beings live. The film is not only made in Hollywood, but also enabled by ETH technology.

Are you feeling blue - or seeing red? Maybe turning green with envy? You're not alone in colour-coding your emotions, University of Toronto researchers say in a new paper confirming associations between feelings and certain shades and shapes. In a new study in the Journal of Vision , researchers from the Faculty of Arts & Science's department of psychology  and their collaborators have confirmed research identifying consistent associations between certain colours and lines, and particular emotions.

A new study brings us closer to understanding when and how viewing online paintings can impact our well-being. A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Vienna, the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics sheds light on the potential of online art viewing as a tool for improving well-being.

The objective measurement of the ways in which people move in front of art shows that there are four different groups that also report different art experiences. A recent study led by University of Vienna psychologists has shed light on the impact of viewers' movements and positioning when looking at art.

An exhibition on Gabriel Lippmann, the inventor of one of the first methods for color photography, opens today at the Photo Elysée museum in Lausanne and will run until 21 May. The exhibition provides a unique glimpse into Lippmann's multispectral imaging technique - for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize - by presenting his original color plates in an entirely novel way, thanks to a joint project with EPFL.