Watch: MFA Conservator Carefully Cleans Up a Van Gogh Painting

One of Vincent van Vogh’s most popular paintings received a facelift courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts earlier this month.

On Monday, the MFA posted a video on its Facebook page of conservator Lydia Vagts carefully cleaning up the artist’s 1890, oil on canvas painting “House at Auvers.”

According to the museum’s website, the work was crafted by van Gogh when moved to the northwest of Paris shortly before his suicide.

Vagts said in the video that restoring the painting is “complicated” because it has “probably been treated more than once.” Varnish, cotton fibers, and wax residue are often discovered during this painstaking process, as well as other gunk that interfere “with the ability to look at the brushwork.”

The public got a chance to check out the cleaning process earlier this month, as a part of the museum’s “Conservation in Action” gallery.

“Houses of Auvers” was also voted the favorite impressionist masterpiece by Boston art lovers during the MFA’s “Boston Loves Impressionism” exhibition a few years ago.

Check out a clip of the cleaning above.