Holbein Duo-Aqua Oil is an artist quality watermixable oil paint made with water-soluble linseed oil. It has all of the handling characteristics of traditional oil paints but can be thinned or cleaned up with just water. These paints have a uniform drying time, and will hold brushmarks and dry to a lustrous sheen like traditional oils. Duo-Aqua is available in 83 colors, 75 of which offer optimum permanence. Because of its water-solubility, Holbein DUO Aqua Oil offers the opportunity for mixed media results which would be unavailable in a traditional oil palette. For example, DUO can be mixed with waterbased metallic, pearl and interference colors as well as watercolor, gouache or acrylic paints.

If you wish to alter the consistency, drying time, and transparency of your Duo Aqua Watermixable Oils, you can use Holbein's Duo Aqua Mediums.

For the original Duo-Aqua range, Holbein avoided using heavy metal pigments. For painters who can't live without their Cadmiums and Cobalts, these colors are now available and are known as Holbein Duo-Aqua Elite Colors. They have the same working properties as the original Duo-Aqua colors. Colors labeled Elite are: Cadmium Red, Cadmium Red Deep, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Naples Yellow, Cobalt Green Light, Cobalt Green Deep, Cadmium Green, Cadmium Green Light, Cobalt Turquoise, Manganese Blue Nova, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, Verditer Blue and Cobalt Violet.