How to Clean Oil or Acrylic Painting on Canvas Without Damaging? (2024)

Oil painting and acrylic painting are top choices to add unique aesthetics to the interior of the house. They echo self-expression, culture, art and creativity wherever they are exhibited. To keep their aesthetics and beauty, they should be properly maintained, dusted and cleaned every now and then. But cleaning an oil painting on canvas isn’t similar to cleaning a wall. Oil paintings are very sensitive and you should approach them with a specific cleaning method as they are delicate, sensitive and valuable assets. But how can you clean oil and acrylic paintings on canvas without damaging them?

In this article, we’ll explore the correct way to dust, clean and dry oil and acrylic paintings drawn on canvases without damaging them.

To Clean or Not To Clean!

The very first step in cleaning paintings is to assess their condition and devise an approach to cleaning them without damaging the art, colours and textures. Whether it’s a store-bought painting, a piece of fine art or an old painting, first you should:

• Find the type of paint supplies and canvas materials used to draw it. It can be oil, acrylic, watercolour or paintings drawn with natural increases and colours.
• Check whether there are severe signs of flaking, cracking and loose paint pieces. In case these signs are present and it is a valuable piece of fine art, we suggest taking it to a professional restoration artist to do the job for you. This is because many DIY cleaning techniques might not be suitable for paintings in poor conditions.

Assessing the painting also allows you to find what type of cleaning and how much cleaning they require. This way, you can plan ahead and prepare to deliver a safe and effective cleaning.

For example, they may only need dusting, which is a straightforward process or they may need some spot cleaning to remove a stain on the canvas.

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Dusting a Painting Canvas

Most paintings at homes or offices require simple dusting. The surface of oil painting canvas isn’t smooth and over time, dust and grime will build up on it. If left uncleaned, they will eventually turn into permanent marks on the canvas and cause discolouration.

The safest way to dust almost any oil, acrylic or watercolour painting is to use a very soft feathered duster or extra-soft bristle brush. Soft painting brushes or clean beauty and makeup brushes are the perfect tools to dust canvas paintings.

Also, air duster cans that are commercially available are good, especially for removing slightly larger dust buildups that are resistive to soft brushes during dusting.

To dust, gently brush the surface of the canvas from top to bottom. This will help you remove loose dust and debris. If there’s still dust on the surface, repeat the process or use an air duster can to spot clean dust buildups.

Remember to avoid scrubbing or using microfibre or any other cleaning cloth as the fibres may scratch off the paint, leave lint and cloth fibres on the paint layer or tear the canvas. Also, avoid spraying water on the canvas or the cleaning tool to prevent mixing colours on the painting or weakening the canvas.

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Spot Cleaning Stains

Wiping off stains from painting canvases requires you to do spot cleaning. Spot cleaning is a good DIY method to clean stains smaller than a coin. For any stain larger than that, consider a professional restoration expert as cleaning larger areas on the canvas may damage the painting or leave noticeable watermarks.

For spot cleaning, you will need a few soft cotton buds (Q-tips) and a glass of distilled water. Dip a cotton bud in distilled water and start test cleaning a small, hidden area of painting, like the top of the canvas border. If there weren’t any negative effects after a few minutes, go ahead with the real spot cleaning.

To start, dip a Q-tip in distilled water and set it aside for a few seconds until the cotton is just lightly damped. Then, gently swipe the cotton bud on the spot you want to clean. Keep it in one direction and avoid rubbing. After a few swipes, replace the Q-tip with a clean one and repeat the process until the stain is gone. Give the stained area a few minutes to dry each time you replace the Q-tip to avoid saturating the spot with water.

For tougher and stubborn stains, you can use saliva instead of distilled water. Saliva contains natural enzymes that won’t damage the paint but can remove certain stubborn stains from the paint layer. You can also add a drop or two of mild soap in a large glass of distilled water to achieve the same results for cleaning tougher stains.

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Drying The Canvas After Spot Cleaning

After spot-cleaning the oil or acrylic painting, the best way to dry it is to leave the canvas in a dust-free room away from sunlight or heat to air dry. You don’t have a dust-free room in your house, you can cover the painting with a clean and lint-free cotton bed sheet as it is hanging from the wall. This will prevent dust from sticking to the moist surface but also allow air to circulate adequately.

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Cleaning The Frame

Several oil and acrylic paintings are placed in beautiful frames to add to the aesthetics of the artwork. Cleaning the frame is also essential as the dust on the frame may end up on the surface of the canvas over time.

If you’re dusting or spot-cleaning the painting, it is a good time to clean the frame as well. Cleaning most painting frames with a glossy finish is easy. Just mildly dampen a soft microfibre cloth and wipe the frame. Be careful not to scratch the painting canvas unintentionally as you clean the frame.

To clean other types of frames, you can read our guide for polishing stainless steel, cleaning and polishing silverware and polishing gold jewellery.

How to Prevent Dust & Stains in The First Place?

There are multiple ways to prevent dust and stains from ending up on oil paintings. We have an extensive article on how to improve air quality and how to reduce the amount of dust in the environment.

If you’re managing a museum or an art gallery with several fine art pieces and old oil paintings, you can invest in professional daily cleaning services for museums and art galleries. This is the best and most effective way to preserve paintings better.

However, other ways have been implemented and tested by several museums. For example, many museums encase their paintings in protective, humidity-controlled shields which protect the painting from dust as well as other potential damages. Art galleries also encase art pieces in frames with glass.

But if you’re keeping your oil paintings at home, you can place them away from heat, sunlight and dusty areas of the house. You can also hang them higher and closer to the ceiling to prevent splashes and other accidents that may damage the canvas.

Using an air purifier and HVAC system with humidity control can help you reduce the amount of dust in your home, leading to cleaner and less dusty artwork and paintings.

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Conclusion

Oil and acrylic paintings are a part of every home and office aesthetic. To keep them maintained and beautiful, we should regularly dust and clean them. But cleaning paintings is a delicate task and requires patience. In this article, we discussed how to dust and spot clean oil paintings on canvas, acrylic paintings and watercolour paintings. We also talked about how to assess went the art piece can be cleaned with DIY methods and how to keep dust and stains away from canvas paintings.

The information provided by this article can help anyone who owns a piece of fine art as well as museum and art gallery managers who are looking for a way to reduce the amount of dust in their exhibit rooms and improve the air quality to preserve old paintings better.