Portrait Paintings
21st Century and Contemporary Baroque Portrait Paintings
Paper, Oil Crayon, Spray Paint
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Permanent Marker
Early 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1950s Abstract Portrait Paintings
Mixed Media
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Wood, Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Portrait Paintings
Panel, Oil
2010s Street Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Ink, Mixed Media, Acrylic
Early 19th Century Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1970s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Paper, India Ink
18th Century French School Portrait Paintings
Oil
1850s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Late 19th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
Late 20th Century English School Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
19th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1960s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Mixed Media, Board, Pencil
Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Gouache
17th Century Other Art Style Portrait Paintings
Oil
1960s Post-Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 19th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1850s Academic Portrait Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Panel
Early 19th Century Rococo Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1880s Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil
1940s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Early 20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1970s Cubist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
1920s French School Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Surrealist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Feminist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Acrylic, Plaster, Fiberboard
1950s Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil, Panel
Mid-20th Century English School Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
19th Century Other Art Style Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Pop Art Portrait Paintings
Wood, Spray Paint, Acrylic
Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Bronze
1890s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1930s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Gouache
Portrait Paintings for Sale on 1stDibs
An elegant and sophisticated decorative touch in any living space, portrait paintings have remained popular throughout the years and are widely loved pieces of art for display in many homes today.
Portrait paintings are at least as old as ancient Egypt, where realistic, lifelike depictions of the recently deceased — commonly known as “mummy portraits” — were painted on wooden panels and affixed to mummies as part of the burial tradition.
For centuries, painters have used portraiture as a means of expressing a subject’s nobility, societal status and authority. Portraits were given as gifts in Renaissance Europe, and a portrait artist might have been commissioned to help mark a significant occasion such as a wedding or a promotion to high office. Prior to the advent of photography, which eventually replaced painted portraits as a quicker and more efficient way of capturing a person’s essence, the subject of a portrait had to sit for hours until the painter had finished. And during the 18th century in particular, if an artist commissioned for a portrait struggled with how to adequately memorialize and capture a subject’s likeness, sometimes a portrait painting wasn’t completed for up to a year.
Whether it’s part of the gallery-style approach to your living-room or dining-room walls or merely inspiration as you devise an eye-grabbing color scheme in your home, a portrait painting is a timeless decorative object for any interior. A landscape painting or sculpture might give you the kind of insight into a specific region of the world or a different culture that you can ascertain only through art. Similarly, when you take the time to learn about the subject of a portrait painting that you bring into your home — the sitter’s history, the relationship between the sitter and the artist should one exist, the story of how the portrait came to be — that work can become intensely personal in addition to its place as an object for an art-hungry corner of your apartment or house.
On 1stDibs, visit a vast collection of famous portrait paintings or works by emerging artists. Search by medium to find the right portrait paintings for your home in oil paint, synthetic resin paint and more. Find portrait paintings in a variety of styles, too, including contemporary, Impressionist and Pop art, or search by artist to find unique works created by painters such as Mark Beard, Steve Kaufman and Montse Valdés.
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