Art and Science Converge - Painting the Periodic Table

Painting the Periodic Table! It seems that there are thousands of artistic representations of the Periodic Table as a whole but very few artistic impressions of the elements themselves. Being a science geek and an artist, I think it’s high time we rectified that.

The Periodic Table. Almost everyone knows what it is and it’s instantly recognisable. It has become something of a cultural icon, according to chemical philosopher Eric Scerri of the University of California, Los Angeles in the US. Created in 1869 by Dmitri Mendeleev it has been the subject of many artistic endeavours from creating colourful tables to representing each of the, currently, 118 elements in cupcakes. Yes really! However, if you try to find artwork depicting the individual elements they are few and far between. So, I’ve decided to expand my series of abstract paintings, called The Elements, with the aim of representing, abstractly, all 188 elements.

Last year, 2019, was the International Year of the Periodic Table but unless you’re a chemist (like me) I would imagine that this may have passed you by. Still, it’s never too late to do something to celebrate this ingenious system for classifying the elements that make up the natural world.

Earlier this year I started a series of abstract paintings that I titled, rather conveniently, The Elements. Initially, these started out as fairly randomly chosen names but I soon settled on using the names of some of the elements from the Periodic Table. This seems to have been a popular move and, after a suggestion from a friend in the US, I’ve decided to repurpose my series and try to represent all 118 elements in abstract form.

Of course, the beauty of doing this in abstract is that I can’t get it wrong! Everyone will see something in abstract art and it’s likely everyone will see something different. That’s why I love abstract painting so much - there’s always something for everyone!

Here you can see my first three abstract paintings in the series. All are 8 x 8 inch on nearly 2 inch thick box canvas. They can be hung as they are but would also look great in a black floating frame. They will all be available from my shop as I create them. You can explore the shop here.

Zenon

Mercury

Neon

What is the Periodic Table of the Elements?

Okay, so I’ve assumed right from the start that just about everyone has at least heard of the Periodic Table but it might be a stretch to assume that everyone actually knows or understands what it is. As a Chartered Chemist I feel it’s my job to educate you on this!

The Periodic Table is a systematic way of displaying the chemical elements, which are grouped according to atomic number, electron configuration and similar chemical properties. The elements are arranged in 7 rows (periods) and 18 columns (groups). Metals (e.g. sodium) are generally on the left and non-metals (e.g. oxygen) are on the right. The columns tend to represent similar chemical behaviour but also reflect differences in reactivity - just recall your school days of reaction sodium and potassium. This also means that chemical behaviour can be predicted for elements yet to be discovered or isolated.

Currently, there are 118 elements on the table but this wasn’t always so. Although the basis of the modern version was built on Mendeleev’s table from 1869 the work to classify the elements actually dates back as far as 1789 when Antoine Lavoisier built his table of just 33 known elements.

Of course, regarding my planned art project I would probably have been happier with Lavoisier’s version as I’d have a lot less to do! As it is, I have another 115 paintings to create so that should keep me out of trouble for a while.

How will I represent the individual elements?

My initial abstract paintings were clearly very popular and the three that are shown above will be the style I intend to use. But, I feel that I need to be able to show some indication of a difference between each painting as they represent a different element. So, my plan is to paint the radial lines that emanate from the centre but include a special larger radial line or lines to represent the atomic number of the element being represented. It’s probably not easy to imagine so just trust me and follow me to see what I mean. Wish me luck!