Restoring Mondrian's Classic

New Scientist (sub required) on the intricate work repairing Victory Boogie Woogie by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian - estimated to be worth about $ 50 million.

"One problem is the pigments themselves: products of a lab rather than a mine. Think of the blue pigments used by, say Renaissance artist Giotto: azurite, lapis lazuli - they were grated stones, Brunetti says. "Contemporary materials are organic, many of them polymers.""

"The mixed-media nature of modern art is making conservation even more difficult. Paint and canvas have given way to new means of expression; everything from rubber and steel to the man-made fabrics on an unmade bed."