• liquid chromatography
• Japan wax
• gas chromatograpy
• Edvard Munch
• crayons
• atelier materials
• mass spectrometry

Preserving as much as possible the appearance and the integrity of a work of art in time is one of the main goals of any strategy for the conservation of cultural heritage. Atelier materials can provide information both on the composition and on the aging processes that can occur; the aim of this kind of studies is to preserve and restore artwork, and even authenticate and date works which were only tentatively attributed. In this thesis, crayons from Edvard Munch's atelier were analysed. Chromatographic techniques and mass spectrometry were applied for the characterisation of the organic component of the material. Binding media was characterised by Py-GC-MS, GC-MS, HPLC-ESI-q-ToF and FIA-ESI-q-ToF; dyes were characterised by HPLC-DAD-FD and HPLC-ESI-q-ToF. To completely understand the composition of a certain material, the analysis of reference materials plays a central role. For this reason, Japan wax and palm oil were characterised, using the same techniques.