Action painting under spectroscopic light: Excited-state exchange interactions behind the vibrant blue in Jackson Pollock's Number 1A, 1948

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Heyer, Alexander J.; Haddad, Abed; Scott, Racquel; Kowach, Glen; Solomon, Edward I.
• 署名单位: Stanford University; City University of New York (CUNY) System; City College of New York (CUNY); Stanford University; United States Department of Energy (DOE); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-12644
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2513166122
• 发表日期: 2025-09-30
• 关键词: resonance raman-spectroscopy; optical spectroscopy; absorption; manganate(vi); TRANSITION; identification; k3na(cro4)(2); luminescence; baso4

摘要

Number 1A, 1948 by Jackson Pollock is a quintessential example of his action painting technique where ropes of color, drips of black, and pools of white coalesce into the layered dynamism that defines his style. While past work has identified the red and yellow pigments that form part of his core palette, the vibrant blue in the painting has remained unassigned. In this study resonance Raman spectroscopy is used to assign the blue in the painting as manganese blue. This assignment offers critical context for the conservation of his works. Importantly, assignment of this pigment enables spectroscopic investigation of the electronic structure origin of the pure hue of manganese blue and the chemical phenomena that produce its color. To probe these phenomena, resonance Raman data are coupled to magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations to assign and analyze the two electronic transitions that create the blue color. This study reveals these bands are split by excited-state exchange interactions; the gap between them contains the reflected light that gives manganese blue its appearance. This sheds light on distinct advantages of molecular inorganic pigments: their ability to leverage ligand field effects in charge transfer states to create multiple intense visible absorption features and the ability to fine-tune pigment color through host lattice electrostatics.