What Is Giclée Printing? Why It Matters When Buying Fine Art Prints

If you've been shopping for fine art prints, you've probably come across the word "giclée" — but what does it actually mean, and why do.

What Is Giclée Printing?
Giclée (pronounced zhee-KLAY) is a high-quality inkjet printing process used to reproduce fine art. The word comes from the French verb "gicler," meaning to spray or squirt — referring to the way microscopic droplets of ink are sprayed onto the paper or canvas by the printer. What makes giclée different from ordinary printing is precision and color depth. A standard consumer inkjet printer uses 4 colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). A giclée printer uses 8 to 12 colors — including light cyan, light magenta, and multiple shades of black and gray — which allows it to reproduce the subtle gradients, tonal nuances, and color accuracy of an original painting with remarkable fidelity.

Why Does It Matter for Fine Art?
When you buy a reproduction of a painting, you're trusting the print to capture what the artist actually created. With a standard print, shadows lose detail, colors shift, and delicate mid-tones flatten out. A giclée print preserves all of that — the texture of a brushstroke, the depth of a shadow, the warmth of a golden sunset.
At Cromartie & Cromartie, every print is produced using 12-color giclée technology on archival-quality paper. That means:
- **Accurate color:** What you see on the print matches the original painting as closely as modern technology allows.
- **Long-lasting results:** Archival inks resist fading for decades when displayed away from direct sunlight.
- **Fine detail:** Subtle elements in the original artwork — a wisp of cloud, the glint of water, the grain of a charcoal stroke — remain visible in the reproduction.

What Paper Does It Matter?
Yes. The paper (or canvas) is just as important as the ink. Giclée prints are typically produced on acid-free, archival paper — meaning the paper itself won't yellow or degrade over time. Our prints use 200–250gsm fine art matte paper, which gives a clean,
gallery-quality surface that lets the art speak without glare or distraction.

Is Giclée Worth It?
If you're buying art to display and keep, yes. A giclée print on archival paper is a long-term investment in your space. It's not a poster — it's a museum-quality reproduction made to last.
All of our prints at Cromartie & Cromartie are produced to this standard, from our coastal landscapes and wildlife paintings to our abstract Cosmic Expressionism series. If you have questions about a specific print or want to know more about our process, feel free to reach out via our contact page.