{"id":4294,"date":"2016-08-08T19:40:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.donotdestroy.com\/index\/148637649417-2\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T07:21:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T00:21:48","slug":"148637649417-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.donotdestroy.com\/index\/148637649417-2\/","title":{"rendered":"148637649417"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alla Prima<\/h1>\n

Wet-on-wet<\/b>, or alla prima<\/b><\/i> (Italian, meaning at first attempt<\/i>), is a painting<\/a> technique, used mostly in oil painting<\/a>,
\n in which layers of wet paint are applied to previously administered
\nlayers of wet paint. This technique requires a fast way of working,
\nbecause the work has to be finished before the first layers have dried.
\nIt may also be referred to as \u2018direct painting\u2019 or the French term au premier coup<\/i> (at first stroke).[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Wet-on-wet painting has been practiced alongside other techniques
\nsince the invention of oil painting, and was used by several of the
\nmajor Early Netherlandish painters<\/a> in parts of their pictures, such as Jan van Eyck<\/a> in the Arnolfini portrait<\/a>, and Rogier van der Weyden<\/a>.[2]<\/a><\/sup>
\n In traditional painting methods new layers were applied to most parts
\nof a painting only after allowing the previous layer to completely dry.
\nThis drying process could vary from several days to several weeks,
\ndepending on the thickness of the layer. Work done using \u201calla prima\u201d
\ncan be carried out in one or more sessions \u2013 depending on the type of
\npaints used and their respective drying time \u2013 but it is mostly done in
\none session or \u201csitting\u201d only.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Among the many Baroque<\/a> painters who favored an alla prima<\/i> technique were Diego Vel\u00e1zquez<\/a> and Frans Hals<\/a>. In the Rococo<\/a> era, connoisseurs appreciated bold alla prima<\/i> painting, as exemplified in the works of artists such as Jean-Honor\u00e9 Fragonard<\/a>, Francesco Guardi<\/a>, and Thomas Gainsborough<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since the mid-19th century, the use of commercially produced pigments
\n in portable tubes has facilitated an easily accessible variety of
\ncolors to be used rapid and on-the-spot painting. Impressionists<\/a> like Claude Monet<\/a>, post-Impressionists<\/a> like Vincent van Gogh<\/a>, realists like John Singer Sargent<\/a>, Robert Henri<\/a> and George Bellows<\/a>, Expressionists<\/a> such as Chaim Soutine<\/a>, and the Abstract Expressionist<\/a> Willem de Kooning<\/a>
\n have each in different ways exploited the potential for fluid energy in
\n the application of oil paints. It is still heavily used by both
\nfigurative and non-figurative fine artists today.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In the medium of watercolors<\/a>,
\n wet-on-wet painting requires a certain finesse in embracing
\nunpredictability. Highly translucent and prone to accidents, watercolor
\npaint will bloom in unpredictable ways that, depending on the artist\u2019s
\nframe of mind, can be a boon or a burden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alla Prima Wet-on-wet, or alla prima (Italian, meaning at first …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12749],"tags":[6219,582,1295,6222,4971,1614,92,3,6221,6220,6218],"class_list":["post-4294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tumblr","tag-alla-prima","tag-art","tag-drawing","tag-first-attempt","tag-impressionist","tag-oil","tag-painting","tag-quote-of-the-day","tag-technique","tag-watercolors","tag-wet-on-wet"],"yoast_head":"\n148637649417 - Do Not Destroy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.donotdestroy.com\/index\/148637649417-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"148637649417 - 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