In 1949, Parisian painter Henri GOETZ approached Henri SENNELIER the famous artist materials manufacturer, about creating a wax colour stick for his friend Pablo PICASSO. Picasso, a long-time Sennelier customer and a frequent visitor to their store across the street from the Louvre museum, was looking for a medium that could be used freely on a variety of surfaces without fading or cracking.
Their collaboration produced the incomparable SENNELIER oil pastels. Originally available in a palette of classic hues, the colour selection was expanded with the addition of metallic and iridescent hues.
Beyond these classic hues a selection of unique shades is available, and in particular a gradation of greys, required for a balanced palette. This evolution is the fruit of a long-standing collaboration with European and North American painters, who have worked with our company in developing an exceptional palette of shades.
The Sennelier oil pastel is a product that makes use of the components used in all Sennelier colours: top quality pigme nts, an extremely pure synthetic binding medium and mineral wax. The pigments are ground with an inert, non-siccative binding medium that does not oxidise and that has no effect upon either film stability or surface. This base is then mixed with wax (neutral pH). The balance of this mix provides Sennelier oil pastels with a unique unctuousness and a creamy texture that allows for a great deal of freedom in pictorial expression.
The Sennelier oil pastels possess an extraordinarily high pigment content, thus providing them with a high colouring and covering potential, excellent brightness and a high degree of light stability (with the exception of metallic and fluorescent shades).
This set comes in a robust cardboard storage box and contains the following colours:
White 001, Naples Yellow 021, Lemon Yellow 019, Golden Yellow 022, Yellow Deep 020, Luminous Yellow 233, Bright Yellow 018, Mandarin 200, Chinese Orange 090, Vermilion 038, Red Light 029, Permanent Intense Red 220, Ruby Red 031, Red Deep 030, Bordeaux 008, Rose Ochre 230, Coral 236, Geranium Lake Light 202, Purple 027, Pale Pink Madder Lake 077, Cobalt Violet Light 217, Parma Violet 216, Blue Violet 047, Ash Blue 207, Sky Blue 219, Phthalo Blue 222, Midnight Blue 211, Azure Blue 002, Pale Blue 006, Indian Blue 225, Royal Blue 227, Cobalt Blue 004, French Ultramarine Blue 237, Prussian Blue 007, Indigo Light 080, Turquoise Blue 206, Celadon Green 214, Green Yellow Light 072, Moss Green 205, Baryte Green 040, Olive Green 046, Sap Green Light 088, Chromium Green Light 086, Cinnabar Green Yellow 042, Permanent Green Light 234, Green Medium 045, Pine Green 213, Titan Buff 099, Earth Brown 243, Orange Ochre 238, Flesh Ochre 025, Violet Ochre 209, Yellow Ochre 026, Raw Sienna 037, Red Brown 239, Venetian Red 032, Brown Madder 092, Burnt Sienna 036, Raw Umber 035, Burnt Umber 034, Sepia 033, Light Grey 223, Blue Grey 011, Pale Grey 014, Yellow Grey 013, Green Grey 016, Reddish Brown Grey 015, Medium Grey 224, Charcoal 228, Payne’s Grey 096, Mars Black 098, and Black 023.
