What is Giclée and why is it the next best thing to owning the original? Giclée (jee-clay) is an advanced printmaking process for creating high quality fine art reproductions. It derives a superior quality from its seemingly “dotless” imaging technology. An extremely high-resolution digital capture is made from original artwork or from the artist's 4x5 transparency. Proofed for fidelity by the artist, it is then transferred to a final print with a top quality digital inkjet printer. The printer sprays microscopic droplets of color from extremely fine nozzles using archival-grade pigment inks. The quality that Giclée printmaking attains creates a fine art reproduction that is virtually indistinguishable from the original artwork. Museum-quality Giclée reproductions are recognized as "the next best thing” to owning the original and can be found in the world's finest museums, galleries and private collections. How does a Giclée differ from a traditional art print? Traditional fine art lithographic prints typically rely on printing a screen pattern of cyan, magenta, yellow and black dots in different sizes, arranged to fool the eye into seeing various hues and tones of color. However, the dot patterns are detectable to the unaided eye, making this method of traditional offset printing less desirable than Giclée's seemingly “dotless” imaging technology. Traditional offset prints are typically restricted to papers that vary widely from the original artwork, especially when reproducing oil or acrylic on canvas. The Giclée process enables reproduction on virtually the same media as the original artwork. For fine art reproduction, Giclée produces the truest representation of the original. Will a Giclée fade over time? Based on independent research and testing, the published findings of Wilhelm Imaging Research's image permanence ratings measure the expected display-life for various ink and media combinations used in Giclée printmaking today. The archival-grade pigment inks, acid-free media, and the UV liquid laminate coating applied to each canvas, ensure that each Mills Studio Giclée reproduction offers an image stability rating of greater than 80 years. To Purchase a Giclée   |   Return to the Giclée Gallery