Maimeri: A Century of Italian Art Materials Excellence

Maimeri is one of Italy's most respected art materials manufacturers, producing professional-grade oil paints, watercolours, and acrylics from its facility near Milan since 1923. Over more than a century of production, the company has built a reputation for pigment quality, technical precision, and the kind of craftsmanship that reflects Italy's deep tradition of fine art and materials excellence. For professional painters who want to work with materials that carry the authority of Italian art heritage alongside genuine technical quality, Maimeri is one of the most important and distinctive options available.

The company was founded by Gianni Maimeri, a painter and chemist who wanted to produce art materials of the highest quality for the Italian fine art community. This founding combination of artistic and scientific knowledge has remained central to the company's identity, and Maimeri's products reflect both the aesthetic sensibility of a company founded by a painter and the technical rigour of a company with deep expertise in pigment chemistry and paint formulation.

The Puro Oil Paint Range

The Maimeri Puro oil paint range is the company's flagship professional product, formulated with the highest available pigment loads and the finest linseed and safflower oils. The Puro range is designed for professional painters who demand the absolute highest quality from their materials, and the paints reflect this ambition in their intensity, transparency, and handling characteristics.

The Puro range is distinguished by its commitment to single pigment formulations wherever possible, with detailed pigment information provided for every colour. This transparency allows painters to make informed decisions about their palette and to understand exactly what they are working with. The single pigment approach also ensures that the paints mix cleanly and predictably, without the muddy mixing that can result from multi-pigment formulations.

The colour range covers more than 90 colours, including a comprehensive selection of the pigments that professional painters rely on most heavily. The range includes genuine cadmiums, genuine cobalts, genuine ultramarines, and a comprehensive selection of earth pigments, alongside the full range of modern synthetic pigments. The earth pigments in the Puro range are sourced from specific Italian deposits known for their quality, reflecting the company's roots in the Italian landscape and its commitment to materials with genuine provenance.

The Classico Oil Paint Range

The Maimeri Classico range provides professional quality at a more accessible price point, making Maimeri's Italian craftsmanship available to a broader range of painters. The Classico range covers more than 100 colours, with a pigment load and handling quality that is competitive with other professional-grade oil paints in its price category.

The Classico range is particularly popular with art students and emerging professional painters who want professional-quality materials without the premium cost of the Puro range. The quality of the Classico paints is genuine, reflecting the same commitment to pigment quality and careful formulation that characterises all of Maimeri's products.

The Blu Watercolour Range

The Maimeri Blu watercolour range is one of the finest professional watercolour ranges available, formulated with high pigment loads and the honey-based binder that gives Italian watercolours their characteristic handling quality. The Blu range covers more than 90 colours, with a focus on single pigment formulations and the highest available pigment loads.

The Blu watercolours are particularly noted for their granulation characteristics, with a number of colours that produce beautiful granulating effects on textured paper. The granulation reflects the specific pigments used and the way they interact with the paper surface, producing textures that are characteristic of the specific pigment rather than artificially induced.

The range includes a selection of limited edition colours that are produced in small quantities using rare or unusual pigments, reflecting the company's interest in exploring the full range of pigment possibilities rather than limiting itself to the standard commercial palette.

International Distribution

Maimeri products are distributed internationally through specialist art supply retailers. In the United States, they are available through Blick Art Materials and other professional art supply stores. In the UK, they are available through Jackson's Art Supplies and other specialist retailers. The company also sells directly through its website for customers in Italy and surrounding countries.

The international distribution reflects the global reputation that Maimeri has built among professional painters. The paints are used by exhibiting painters, art school faculty, and serious amateur painters in dozens of countries, and the company's reputation for quality has spread primarily through word of mouth among working artists.

The Italian Heritage

The Italian heritage that Maimeri brings to its products is not merely a marketing distinction. Italy has one of the richest traditions of fine art and materials craftsmanship in the world, and the knowledge and sensibility that this tradition embodies are genuinely reflected in the quality and character of Maimeri's products. The company's location near Milan, in the heart of one of Europe's most culturally rich regions, connects it to a tradition of artistic and artisanal excellence that spans centuries.

This heritage is most clearly expressed in the Puro range, which represents the company's most ambitious effort to produce oil paints of the absolute highest quality. The Puro paints reflect a century of accumulated knowledge about pigments, oils, and the specific requirements of professional oil painting, and they carry the authority of a company that has been serving the Italian fine art community for more than 100 years.

The Bottom Line

Maimeri is one of the most distinguished and technically accomplished art materials manufacturers in the world, producing oil paints, watercolours, and acrylics that reflect more than a century of Italian craftsmanship and a genuine commitment to the highest standards of pigment quality and paint formulation. For professional painters who want materials that combine Italian heritage with genuine technical excellence, Maimeri is one of the most important and distinctive options available.