Royal Talens is a Dutch company founded in the 1899. Corporate headquarters are still based in The Netherlands. Royal Talens produces oil, acrylic, and watercolor paint lines as well as pastels and pencils.
Royal Talens Acrylic Product Names: Who’s your Daddy?
Due to clever packaging and product names, it wasn’t until I visited the Royal Talens website that I discovered some acrylic paint brands are all produced by the same company. Sneaky huh? Their Rembrandt brand is familiar to me as an watercolor, but not as acrylic.
- Royal Talens | Rembrandt Acrylic Paint: Talens top of the line acrylic paint. Highest quality & pigment load. I have yet to find these in the States, although the Rembrandt pastel and watercolor are widely available.
- Royal Talens | Van Gogh Acrylic: Described by Talens as “pasty”, which I take to mean thick and suitable for impasto work.
- Royal Talens | Amsterdam Expert: Heavy body, artist’s grade acrylic paint. Described by Talens as a step-up from Amsterdam Standard. Royal Talens offers 7 acrylic mediums to accompany this line.
- Royal Talens | Amsterdam Standard: Student grade acrylic paint.
- Royal Talens | ArtCreation Expression: Low cost acrylic paint which I will describe as hobby or crafting paint for the time being. Talens uses the politically unoffensive term ‘beginner’.
- Royal Talens | ArtCreation Essentials: 38 colors of low cost acrylic crafters paint in large tubes.
Amsterdam Expert or Standard, what’s the deal?
Due to similar packaging and logos is easy to confuse the Amsterdam Expert with Amsterdam Standard. If you don’t notice based on price alone — take care, and don’t mistakenly grab expert if you are wanting Standard instead.
See our Opinionated Article titled, Three Reason Why Hobby Painters Need to use Professional Artists Paint.
Dick Blick produced and informative, but slightly boring video about the differences between the two products. If you just can’t keep you lids up long enough to watch the entire 2:54 minutes of it, below is a handy-dandy comparison chart for your reading pleasure.
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Where to purchase in the USA:
Amsterdam line is widely available online and in most art retail stores through out the country.
The jury is still out on where to purchase Rembrandt Acrylic and Van Gogh Acrylic in the States. I will update as soon as I receive more complete information about these two Royal Talens product lines.
What I really think about Royal Talens Paint:
Editor Mini-Rant WARNING now in EFFECT.
Ok, Talens. I have sat here all afternoon, reading your website, comparing your literature about your different brands.
I am thoroughly confused.
After reading about Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Amsterdam – 2kinds, and also ArtCreations - ALL of which are described as fine art paint; I can’t honestly report on any of it.
At this time, my best guess is that you sell 5 different grades of acrylic paint. They begin as super-fine and proceed to cheap? But with all the different branding labels, and mushy descriptions, I am totally lost.
Maybe it is an American thing, and European painters have no trouble at all with keeping all your different brands. I prefer to know what I am buying BEFORE I purchase it.
Full disclosure is one of the main reasons I began this blog. To help working artists cut through the marketing crap and determine the facts about acrylic paint brands. I am none too pleased so far.
One last note:
I wrote this post initially in response to an email a received from a Royal Talens rep asking why I didn’t have Amsterdam paint listed on this site.
To date, in my own studio, I have only had the opportunity to try Amsterdam Expert and Amsterdam Standard. IF I can track down and purchase some Rembrandt and Van Gogh acrylic tubes in the States I will test them and out write a followup.
Until such time, I welcome your opinions on all or any of the Royal Talens Acrylic Paint Brands.
I like Amsterdam Expert, as it is a very good deal, easy to use and is nearly as (sorry) buttery and deep as the much more expensive Heavy Body Paints of the leading companies. Even holds brush strokes.
The plastic tubes are very practical and stable.
It’s one of the best studio qualities I know of.
100 years. Congratulations and continued success.
Over the years as a professional artist, I have experimented with almost all brands of oil paints and continue to come back to yours for quality and price. I also use your pastels for my basic palette. Both work very, very well for me.
I understand that you intend to have presentations and demonstrations of your products in various areas of the US. I live in the largest town in western Colorado and I expect you will only enter the Denver metropolitan area with these events. I would be honored and would like to offer my services if you would consider having me promote your art materials in my area. It is a large area and has a lot of artists living here.
Whatever you decide, I will always continue to recommend your paints to my students.
Thank you and again, Congratulations!
Charles Morris