Portrait Paintings
Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Linen, Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1980s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
1940s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Charcoal, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
1980s Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Paper, Gouache
1920s American Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Stretcher Bars
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 2000s Modern Portrait Paintings
Mixed Media, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1980s Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Tempera, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
1990s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Watercolor, Gouache
1980s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil
1980s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid
Late 20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Illustration Board
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Cotton Canvas
Late 20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Linen, Oil
Mid-20th Century American Modern Portrait Paintings
Paper, Oil Pastel, Gouache
19th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Mixed Media, Watercolor, Board
1920s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Modern Portrait Paintings
Paint, Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Masonite, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel, Wood
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Paper, Oil Pastel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
1950s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
1990s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1990s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1980s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
1980s Modern Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Paint, Acrylic
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.