Advances in painting product technology have led to some of the greatest changes in art history. For example, in 1841 oil paint became available in capped tubes, allowing artists the flexibility to paint outdoors. This in turn lead artists such as Monet and the impressionists to paint en plein air (outside). Without this newfound freedom offered by portable paint tubes, the popularity of this new painting style would not have led to the Alla Prima or ‘wet on wet’ technique of painting which formed the basis of the style of artists such as Monet. In fact, Pierre August Renoir said “ without tubes of paint there would haven been no impressionism.”
Perhaps the greatest technical change since this time has been the invention
