5 Reasons Why You Need to Varnish Your Oil Painting

This article talks about how to varnish an oil painting and why you should do it.

Why do you varnish oil paintings?

If you want to protect your paintings it is a good idea to varnish them. Varnish protects the painting from dirt and dust and evens out the painting’s final appearance, making it all equally glossy or matt. 

The purpose for varnishing your painting is to:

• prevent dust and dirt getting into the painting surface.
• protect the surface of the paint from mechanical impact that might damage the painting.
• protect it from ultraviolet light.
• give a uniform finish or sheen to the painting (either matte or gloss).
• saturate the colors of paintings and intensify the transparency of glazes

How do you varnish an oil painting?

Here is a good video on the process of how to varnish an oil painting from the Winsor & Newton company.