Hahnemühle – The Collection

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When I started painting watercolors in the late 1970s, I didn’t know anything about materials. I thought all watercolor paper was the same, so I bought cheap supplies. One of the first watercolor papers I used was Hahnemühle, in pads with the classic red rooster on the cover.

I happily painted away with doubtful results on that paper. It wasn’t until a friend, who had visited Lessebo fine paper mill, bought some handmade watercolor papers for me that I realized it was the Hahnemühle pad that made none of my paintings turn out well. The difference was so overwhelming that I abandoned the red rooster and all cheap watercolor papers.

Since then, I hadn’t used any products from Hahnemühle. Not until now, recently, I bought a few different papers from them. The first one I’m testing is their finest paper, which they call The Collection.

Even though Hahnemühle is a paper mill with a history of more than 400 years of papermaking, their finest watercolor paper is entirely new. Production only started five years ago (in 2020).

Like many large paper mills, they produced paper for all kinds of purposes, not just for artists. Everything from specialty paper for industrial and laboratory use, to notebooks and fine printing paper, and of course also artist papers of varying quality.

The Collection comes in two different weights, 300 gr/m² (140 lb) and 640 gr/m² (300 lb). The paper is made of 100% cotton and is mould-made. Full sheets have deckled edges all around. It is available in blocks of different sizes as well as in full sheets (56×76 cm – 22×30 inches).

The Collection is available with hot press, cold press, and rough surfaces. It is sized both internally and on the surface with a synthetic sizing. The color is what the manufacturer calls natural white. I bought the rough surface, so that is the one I am writing about here.

The quality of the paper is noticeable already with the first brushstroke—it is obviously a very good watercolor paper. It absorbs water relatively quickly without becoming dull and flat, as some other softly sized papers do. This means that wet-in-wet painting is still possible, even when the paper feels too dry for further work. Yet it doesn’t hold on to pigment too much, making late corrections possible.

The paper absorbs pigment fairly quickly, which results in less pronounced granulation and texture. Nevertheless, The Collection delivers quite a contrast-rich result. The soft sizing does not produce pale, low-contrast paintings, as some other lightly sized papers do.

Hahnemühle The Collection is a watercolor paper with a broad range. It performs well in wet-in-wet, though not as well as Canson Heritage or Baohong The Master’s Choice. Layering techniques also work exceptionally well, almost as well as on Lanaquarelle, and this quality comes through without producing a dull, flat painting.

The paper is somewhat sensitive to rough handling. The soft surface sizing is to blame for this shortcoming. I would avoid all masking on The Collection, despite what the manufacturer claims on their website. Masking with tape roughens the surface so much that overpainting becomes impossible. Nor does heavy scrubbing to lift color work well.

Washing the paper with water beforehand makes no difference at all. All watercolor papers with surface sizing have more or less uneven sizing, and when painted over with water, this levels out and creates a better painting surface, resulting in deeper, richer colors. But The Collection has such an even sizing that it makes no difference whether you pre-wet it or not.

The Collection is a very good watercolor paper that is sensitive to harsh treatment. They have managed to create an all-round paper that handles both wet-in-wet and layering equally well. It is very easy to paint on—nothing unexpected ever happens—making it a great paper for beginners. But beginners will never paint on this paper, simply because of its unusually high price. In the shops I checked, both in Europe and the US, The Collection is always among the most expensive papers, often the most expensive in stock.

Is the paper worth the high price? Perhaps—if one especially appreciates the qualities that make it such a great all-round paper. Personally, I would rather buy Arches for a little less money, or perhaps Langton Prestige or Canson Heritage.

Name: The Collection
Manufacturer: Hahnemühle
Production method: Mould-made
Material: 100% Cotton
Sizing: Internal and surface (synthetic sizing)
Surface: Hot press, Cold press, and Rough
Weight: 300 gr/m² (140 lb) and 640 gr/m² (300 lb)
Color: Natural white
Manufacturer’s website: https://www.hahnemuehle.com/en/artist-papers/the-collection/p/Product/show/208/1050.html