Ancient Octopus Painted With 95-Million-Year-Old Ink Taken From Its Fossil

Published 9 years ago

The Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway just got a new exhibit of a 95 million-year-old octopus fossil. And next to it hangs a detailed painting by Esther van Hulsen, of how it looked alive. The interesting bit is that the artist had only one shot at painting it because the ink she used was actually extracted from the same fossil!

The ancient fossil was found in Lebanon in 2009, and now paleontologist Jørn Hurum has supplied the ink for the painting. This project is also an homage to Mary Anning, an English paleontologist, and fossil collector, who also used fossil’s ink for her depictions back in the 1800s. Surprisingly the ink still had a vivid color and the properties of a fresh ink even after this unimaginable amount of time.

Before getting this unique chance, the artist was known for her beautifully realistic depictions of wildlife animals, that you can see on her website.

More info: esther van hulsen | facebook (h/t: colossal)