Portrait Paintings
Early 2000s Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Street Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Spray Paint, Acrylic, Permanent Marker
Artist Comments
Artist Mary Pratt paints a fashionable woman with her back gracefully turned to the viewer. She wears a long, billowing dress adorned with polka dots that match...
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Portrait Paintings
Clay, Acrylic
2010s American Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil Crayon, Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Johansen Newman depicts a portrait of Timothy from the book "Nothing Here to See" by Kevin Wilson. "This reminds me of my own experiences as an only child, when my room was my headquarters and the things inside were my comrades-in-arms for navigating the world of grownups," shares Johansen. In the painting, the boy finds comfort in his stuffed animals, using them as a shield from the people around him.
About the Artist
Artist Johansen Newman captures various characters through charming scenes that often weave nostalgia. A reflection of her fondness for edge and funk prevails in her dynamic portrayal of humans with animals and objects of their affection. As a toddler, her mother gave her crayons and allowed her to draw on the walls of her room. She pursued a degree in painting and printmaking, then furthered her education by studying with Bil Baird at his puppet theater in New York, ultimately forming her puppet troupe. Years of crafting puppets, designing scenery, writing stories, and performing shows developed her arsenal of skills—going on to be an award-winning fiber artist exhibiting throughout North America. She integrates these learnings into her current art practice. "My paintings capture fragments of a tale in a time and place that was, is, or has the promise to become," says Johansen. She works at her studio and display gallery at Gorse Mill Studios, a 19th Century textile mill building in Needham, MA. Her woodworking shop doubles as her home studio, where she constantly evolves her compositions to satisfy her aesthetic. Johansen's work has been featured on the cover of local publications, in pictorial essays, and toured museums across the United States. She was a professional and published illustrator for more than 35 years, including two dozen children's books, three of which she also wrote. Besides creating art, she finds herself an enthusiast of vintage collectibles, jukeboxes, signages, tin toys, neon lights, cookie jars, carnival chalkware...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Johansen Newman presents a portrait of a child in a lavishly decorated room. The girl wears her finest dress while clutching onto her rattiest stuffed animal. With her defiant stance, wild hair, and choice of stuffed animal to hold, Hannah seems to be crying out, “You can dress me up and put me in the parlor, but you can’t make me a girly girl.†The painting reminds Johansen of her childhood when she resisted the effort of adults to define how she should look and act.
About the Artist
Artist Johansen Newman captures various characters through charming scenes that often weave nostalgia. A reflection of her fondness for edge and funk prevails in her dynamic portrayal of humans with animals and objects of their affection. As a toddler, her mother gave her crayons and allowed her to draw on the walls of her room. She pursued a degree in painting and printmaking, then furthered her education by studying with Bil Baird at his puppet theater in New York, ultimately forming her puppet troupe. Years of crafting puppets, designing scenery, writing stories, and performing shows developed her arsenal of skills—going on to be an award-winning fiber artist exhibiting throughout North America. She integrates these learnings into her current art practice. "My paintings capture fragments of a tale in a time and place that was, is, or has the promise to become," says Johansen. She works at her studio and display gallery at Gorse Mill Studios, a 19th Century textile mill building in Needham, MA. Her woodworking shop doubles as her home studio, where she constantly evolves her compositions to satisfy her aesthetic. Johansen's work has been featured on the cover of local publications, in pictorial essays, and toured museums across the United States. She was a professional and published illustrator for more than 35 years, including two dozen children's books, three of which she also wrote. Besides creating art, she finds herself an enthusiast of vintage collectibles, jukeboxes, signages, tin toys, neon lights, cookie jars, carnival chalkware...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Found Objects, Mixed Media, Acrylic
Artist Comments
"She emanates an aura of quiet strength while maintaining a delicate presence at the same time," says artist Sharon Sieben. She captures a woman mid-stride, wit...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
1940s American Modern Portrait Paintings
Encaustic, Oil, Board
2010s Modern Portrait Paintings
Mixed Media, Tempera, Board
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1920s Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1940s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Cubist Portrait Paintings
Giclée, Canvas, Paint, Cotton Canvas, Ink, Archival Ink, Mixed Media, Ac...
20th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Academic Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century American Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1990s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
1990s Abstract Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Wood Panel
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Charcoal, Oil, Acrylic
1910s Realist Portrait Paintings
Gouache, Illustration Board
1950s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Pastel, Oil, Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Pen, Watercolor, Ink, Paper
2010s Cubist Portrait Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Mixed Media, Digital, Inkjet, Acrylic, Giclée, Canvas, Paint
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Linen, Oil
2010s Pop Art Portrait Paintings
Spray Paint, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Ink, Archival Paper
2010s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
20th Century Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Academic Portrait Paintings
Canvas
1990s Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Shop Antique and Vintage Portrait Paintings
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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