BETWEEN PASSION AND CHEMISTRY
It is to meet the expectations of every enthusiast that Lefranc Bourgeois perfects colour standards every day. If Lefranc Bourgeois oil is so coveted, it's because it has achieved unrivalled quality. Each oil complies with strict production conditions that make it pleasant to work with and not harmful to the painter. Each colour is methodically tested to maintain the same standard of excellence. For the Lefranc and Bourgeois families, colour is not a profession. It's a passion that has endured for over 3 centuries. A passion for research, development and challenges. That's why Lefranc Bourgeois is much more than a colour merchant: it's the transformation of colour into emotion. These 300 years of expertise have enabled Lefranc Bourgeois to shake up the History of Art. Three centuries that have helped define our quality standards. In order to offer the painter a material that will do justice to his art, each colour is produced with particular care.
THE LOVE OF RAW MATERIALS
In fact, the painter's studio is located in the heart of the city. In the beginning, the colour grinder was a profession in its own right, an art that had its origins in Antiquity and required real know-how. These specialised craftsman-chemists were indispensable to the colour merchants in order to offer a pure, intense pigment of superior quality. Charles Laclef began producing what are known as ‘fine colours’ as early as 1720: these are paints made from pure pigments, ground at greater length to obtain the exceptional finesse that was to seduce all artists. But colour is not the only core business of the brand, which from 1830 began producing varnishes. Building on its special relationship with artists, it developed a range of varnishes specifically designed to protect paintings.
LEFRANC BOURGEOIS, CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE
The creative and visionary spirit of Lefranc Bourgeois is nothing new! If you retrace its history, you'll see a whole host of ranges, formulations and research aimed at pushing back the boundaries and giving painters total freedom of expression. One of Lefranc Bourgeois's major innovations was the development of the screw cap. A state of mind that will never leave the brand.
INITIATOR OF A METAMORPHOSIS
It was thanks to the metalworking industry, which was booming during the Industrial Revolution, that the way in which paint was used underwent a veritable revolution: for centuries, paint had been stored in pigs' bladders for only a short time and was difficult to transport. In collaboration with the inventor, Lefranc was the first brand to market the screw-thread tube with a tin cap, allowing the paint to be stored hermetically. Practical, innovative and easy to transport, tubes were the walking companions of painters who criss-crossed the countryside to capture the moment and the light. On our old catalogue prices in 1859, you can read that we sold our colours in tubes for a penny more than our colours in pigs' bladders.
EFFECTS RESEARCH
Thanks to industrialisation, the range of colours is constantly expanding. Texturing agents, binders and mediums were diversified. The arrival of oil paints, composed mainly of ground pigments and linseed, safflower or poppy seed oil, which took several days to dry, prompted chemists to develop mediums to enable paint to set more quickly. The development of mediums made it possible to create effects and open up the field of use of oil paint: this was the result of genuine know-how, the cornerstone of the success of a range of oil paints with unique and remarkable colours. Mediums in paste or gel form were increasingly developed and added to the paint to transform it and obtain different effects: fluidity, texture, transparency... so many ways of playing with the viscosity of the paste to allow a more versatile pictorial style.
A REVOLUTIONARY FORMULA
During the 20th century, the brand sought to push back the boundaries of what was possible in terms of painting. It revived the Flemish and Venetian mediums popularised by Italian painters, and developed varnishes and transparent paints. Building on this innovative impetus, in 1954 she developed the iconic Flashe, the fine art industry's first vinyl colour with unique properties. This acrylic-like paint had a unique transparency, multi-substrate application and an extra-matte finish that was revolutionary at the time. Later, in the 1980s, Vasarely, a great master of optical art, helped to make the properties of Flashe even more exceptional, in collaboration with the expert chemists Lefranc Bourgeois.
SAFETY AT THE HEART OF RESEARCH
Developed by Lefranc Bourgeois in 1922, the famous titanium white historically replaced silver white, which was highly toxic due to its lead content, and zinc white, which had less coverage.This bright, brilliant white paint with a neutral undertone offers intense luminosity.A century-old colour, its exceptional coverage and creaminess make it a must-have shade in the Lefranc Bourgeois paint palette.As soon as it was launched, it was immediately adopted by artists.
EXPERTISE AT THE SERVICE OF ECO-RESPONSIBILITY
Lefranc Bourgeois has always listened to the needs of painters, working closely with them from the time of Chardin to Vasarely, Dufy and many others. The brand has always been keen to offer new colours, new mediums and formulations that are constantly being reinvented or updated. The brand has always been keen to offer new colours, new mediums and formulations that are constantly being reinvented or updated. Today, the Lefranc Bourgeois ranges offer the possibility of painting with alternatives to cadmium. Produced from a heavy metal, this toxic and highly polluting pigment is traditionally used to create yellows and reds, giving them a depth and luminosity that are hard to match.As these pigments are highly sought after by artists, it took Lefranc Bourgeois 12 years of research to develop a cadmium-free colour palette: the tint retains its original pigment but is chemically separated from the cadmium. After being the very first brand to launch cadmium-free colours (in 2017, with the relaunch of Lefranc Bourgeois oil paints), the brand extended its scientific expertise to its gouache range and launched the first cadmium-free gouaches in 2020.
TITANIUM WHITE
The main characteristic of pigments of natural origin is that most of them tend to be toxic. As a result, colour producers in the 18th century had some dangerous products on hand, which had to be tamed. From the 18th century onwards, colours were created using synthetic pigments such as zinc white and silver white, which were dethroned in 1922 by titanium white, which is non-hazardous and provides better coverage.
Today, as in the past, Lefranc Bourgeois is aware of the world around it. Its commitment to research and sustainability is rooted in its know-how, with the aim of going ever further. The brand never ceases to inspire today's artists and enable them to express their creativity with bold, innovative colours that are in tune with current environmental and health issues. These centuries of expertise have made Lefranc Bourgeois a world leader in the Fine Arts industry: it has the largest paint factory in the world, located in Le Mans, France, and produces more than 15 million tubes of paint a year.
