The article presents a comprehensive study of the evolution of titanium white production, its introduction by manufacturers of artists’ materials, and its application in painted artworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. The technological stages of titanium white pigment manufacturing are examined, ranging from early anatase composites co-precipitated with calcium or barium sulfates to high-purity anatase and rutile pigments produced via sulfate and chloride processes. The article provides a detailed analysis of how production technologies and regional factors influenced the composition of titanium white, establishes the timeline for the introduction and widespread use of different pigment types in artistic practice, and highlights its significance for artwork dating. As part of the study, the composition of titanium white in modern artists’ paints, along with that of 240 paintings and graphic artworks from the 20th and early 21st centuries, was identified using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The chronological framework for the emergence and spread of oil and synthetic tempera paints based on titanium white has been defined. It is shown that the introduction of titanium white into artists’ palettes occurred gradually and was significantly influenced by region. The pigment appears in the paints of American artists from the early 1930s and rapidly gains popularity. In Europe, the use of titanium white was limited throughout the 1930s–1950s, with its broader application beginning in the 1970s. In the USSR, titanium-based paints only became widespread in the late 1970s. The study demonstrates that compositional changes in titanium white can serve as an additional criterion for dating paintings. The results have important practical value for scientific expertise and attribution of the Soviet and Ukrainian painting heritage, for the authentication of artworks, and for the development of reference databases on materials used in art.
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