Turpentine is the traditional solvent distilled from pine resin, used to thin oil paint and clean brushes. From Old Masters to modern safer alternatives, learn its history.
Walk into any art supply store in 2026 and you will find turpentine shelved alongside odorless mineral spirits, citrus solvents, and a growing range of low-toxicity alternatives. Fifty years ago, turpentine was the only solvent most oil painters used. Today, it occupies a smaller but still significant niche, valued by traditionalists for its compatibility with natural resins and avoided by others for its strong odor and health risks. The shift tells a story about how painting materials evolve in response to both chemistry and caution.
Turpentine is a volatile solvent distilled from the resin of pine trees, primarily from species in the genus Pinus. The resin, also called gum turpentine or crude turpentine, is collected from cuts in the bark of living pine trees, much like maple syrup. It is then distilled to separate the volatile oil (spirits of turpentine) from the solid rosin residue. The resulting liquid is a mixture of terpenes, predominantly alpha-pinene, and it is one of the oldest solvents used in painting. Turpentine thins oil paint by reducing the viscosity of the linseed oil binder, dissolves natural resins like dammar and mastic for use in painting mediums and varnishes, and cleans brushes and palettes of dried oil paint.
This entry covers the history of turpentine in painting, how it works chemically, which artists used it, and why modern alternatives have largely replaced it in studio practice.
Turpentine is classified as a volatile organic compound (VOC). Its primary component, alpha-pinene, is a bicyclic monoterpene with the formula C10H16. When turpentine is mixed with oil paint, the terpene molecules interpose themselves between the long-chain fatty acid molecules of the linseed oil binder, reducing the paint's viscosity and making it flow more easily. As the turpentine evaporates, the oil binder re-concentrates and the paint returns to its original consistency, then begins its curing process. Because turpentine evaporates completely, it does not become part of the dried paint film.
Turpentine has a Kauri-Butanol (Kb) value of approximately 56, which measures its solvent power. This is high compared to odorless mineral spirits (Kb approximately 28), meaning turpentine dissolves resins and oils more aggressively. This is why turpentine is the only solvent that fully dissolves dammar resin, making it essential for traditional dammar-based mediums and varnishes. Mineral spirits can only partially dissolve dammar, which limits their use in traditional medium recipes.
The evaporation rate of turpentine is moderate. It evaporates faster than mineral spirits but slower than naphtha. This means paint thinned with turpentine in the underpainting stage will set relatively quickly, which is why turpentine is traditionally used in the lean, early layers of the fat over lean system. As the painter moves to later layers, less turpentine and more oil is used, producing progressively "fatter" layers that dry more slowly but form more flexible films.
The distillation of pine resin to produce turpentine has ancient roots. The process was known in the Mediterranean world, where pine resin was used in medicine, ship caulking, and perfume. The Greek word for turpentine, terebinthine, derives from the terebinth tree (Pistacia terebinthus), whose resin was used similarly before pine-derived turpentine became dominant.
The use of turpentine as a paint solvent is harder to date. A 2024 study by Leslie Carlyle, updated from a 2015 original, traced the history of distilled oil of turpentine in the context of painters' materials. The research found that while the technology for distilling volatile oils existed by the late 13th century, concrete evidence for the use of turpentine as a paint thinner before the early 16th century is scarce. The National Gallery in London's survey of Northern European painting techniques from 1400 to 1500 concluded that "an indication of the use of volatile solvents (like oil of turpentine) is difficult to find: there is no longer any detectable evidence for their presence in the paint film." The first detailed description of distilled oil of turpentine appears in Hieronymus Brunschwig's Grosses Distillierbuch, published in Strasbourg in 1512. Read the full study at ResearchGate.
By the 17th century, turpentine was established in European painters' studios. Theodore Turquet de Mayerne's manuscript (c. 1620-1640) records multiple recipes involving turpentine, including its use in dissolving resins for varnishes and mediums. The demand for turpentine increased dramatically in the late 18th century with the rise of the commercial paint and coatings industry, particularly in Britain, where inexpensive pine-derived turpentine was imported from the American South.
The 19th century saw turpentine become the standard studio solvent. It was used to thin paint for underpainting, to dissolve dammar and mastic resins for mediums and varnishes, and to clean brushes. The pre-mixed medium of stand oil, dammar varnish, and turpentine became the standard formulation for oil painters from roughly the 17th century onward, and many painters still mix it from scratch today.
Turner was an experimentalist with painting materials, and his use of turpentine was no exception. Analysis of his paintings shows he used turpentine to dissolve pine resin and mastic in different areas, creating mediums with varying drying times and optical properties. His The Opening of the Wallhalla (1842) contains pine resin and mastic in shadow areas and dammar dissolved in turpentine in lighter passages. Turner's experimental approach to solvents and mediums reflects the 19th-century search for formulations that would reproduce the effects of the Old Masters.
Sargent used turpentine-thinned paint in the initial stages of his portraits to block in composition and values quickly. His Madame X (1884, Metropolitan Museum of Art) shows the lean underpainting typical of academic practice, where turpentine-thinned paint establishes the structure before oil-rich layers build up the surface. Sargent's alla prima technique, visible in Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-1886, Tate), relied on turpentine to keep paint workable in the early stages of each session.
Homer used turpentine extensively in his watercolor-to-oil transition period. His late marine paintings from Prouts Neck, Maine, such as The Gulf Stream (1899, Metropolitan Museum of Art), show the thin, lean underpainting that turpentine makes possible, with thicker oil-rich paint built up on top in the fat over lean system.
The Tate's conservation research on Bacon's studio materials, preserved at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, revealed that Bacon used turpentine freely, often pouring it directly onto canvas and wiping it across the surface to create the streaked, blurred effects in paintings like Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953, Des Moines Art Center). Bacon's use of turpentine as a creative tool, not just a thinner, pushed the solvent beyond its traditional role.
Kiefer uses turpentine in his large-scale paintings to thin oil paint for the sweeping, liquid washes that cover his canvases. Works like Margarethe (1981) show turpentine-thinned paint applied in broad gestures, with the solvent evaporating to leave thin, matte films of pigment that contrast with the thick, impasto passages elsewhere on the canvas.
Turpentine's decline in studio use began after World War II, when petroleum-derived mineral spirits became widely available. Mineral spirits are cheaper, less toxic, and have a higher permissible exposure level (PEL) than turpentine. The PEL for turpentine is 100 parts per million, compared to 300 for mineral spirits, meaning turpentine is three times more restricted in workplace exposure limits.
The health risks of turpentine are real. Alpha-pinene is a respiratory irritant, and some painters develop sensitization after years of exposure, leading to allergic reactions. Turpentine also has a low flash point of around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), making it flammable. These properties have driven the shift toward safer alternatives.
Odorless mineral spirits (OMS), such as Gamblin's Gamsol, are the most common replacement. OMS is refined to remove aromatic hydrocarbons, reducing odor and toxicity. Its Kb value of approximately 28 means it is a weaker solvent than turpentine, sufficient for thinning paint and cleaning brushes but not strong enough to fully dissolve dammar resin. For painters who work with traditional dammar mediums, this is a limitation.
Citrus solvents, such as Zest-It, are derived from orange peel terpenes (primarily D-limonene). They have a pleasant citrus odor, lower toxicity than turpentine, and can dissolve dammar resin, making them a genuine turpentine substitute for traditional medium recipes. Zest-It, a UK-made product available since the 1990s, has built a following among painters who want traditional solvent performance without turpentine's health risks.
A 2026 comparison by Bradbury Art summarized the practical differences: turpentine remains the only true choice for traditional dammar-and-stand-oil mediums because it is the only solvent that fully dissolves dammar. Sansodor (a refined mineral spirit) is the obvious choice for everything else. Zest-It is recommended for painters working in home studios or with children present. Read the comparison at Bradbury Art.
Turpentine is one category of solvent used in painting. It is paired with linseed oil and natural resins to create painting mediums and varnishes. The fat over lean principle governs how turpentine-rich (lean) layers are built up with oil-rich (fat) layers. For more on how solvents fit into the oil painting process, read our post on oil painting, glazing, and impasto, or explore our guide to reading a painting.
You cannot see turpentine in a finished painting because it evaporates completely. What you can see is its effect: the thin, lean underpainting in a Sargent portrait, the streaked solvent washes in a Bacon canvas, the broad liquid passages in a Kiefer. These are all products of turpentine doing its job and then disappearing.
If you want to understand what turpentine makes possible, look at the contrast between thin and thick paint in Rembrandt's late works at the Rijksmuseum, or at the lean underpainting visible in Sargent's portraits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The difference between the transparent, turpentine-thinned passages and the thick, oil-rich impasto is the difference between the lean and fat layers that turpentine makes possible.
For more on painting materials, read our entries on linseed oil and solvent, or explore our post on plein air painting and the materials that made it possible.
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