We asked for your art-related questions—strange or straightforward—and you delivered. (See all installments.)

In this installment, we look at the history of the paint tube. We’ve also created a corresponding playlist of some of our favorite “en plein air” works.

Who invented the tin oil paint tube that allowed artists to leave their studios and paint landscapes outdoors? What was the year or time period? — Rick from St. Joseph, MI

The collapsible paint tube was invented by a little known American artist, one John Goffe Rand (full disclosure: I had to look up his name) in the 19th century—1841 to be precise (alright, I had to look exact year up too).

But what’s so interesting about this invention, as this question implies, is its impact on painting, specifically Impressionism. Portable paint tubes allowed artists to abandon the studio and paint ‘en plein air’—experimenting with a new, direct style inspired by life around them. Previously, paint had to be stored in pig bladders, which did not travel well and were prone to drying out. Crucially, Rand’s invention arrived at a time when many artists were rejecting the traditional academic style of painting in favor of a new, ‘modern’ approach that explored how a sensory moment could be captured on canvas. So the paint tube became fundamental to the Impressionists’ practice.

What’s more, the tin tube’s arrival also coincided with an unprecedented expansion in the artist’s palette. More than 20 new pigments were invented between 1800 and 1870 and the Impressionists made full use of them. Indeed, Renoir famously claimed, “Without colors in tubes, there would be no Cézanne, no Monet, no Pissarro, and no Impressionism.”

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