Portrait Paintings
Early 2000s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Plywood, Mixed Media, Oil
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Post-War Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1950s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Gouache, Illustration Board
1950s Post-War Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
Late 20th Century Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Ink, Gouache
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Tempera
1980s Post-War Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Wood Panel, Acrylic
Artist Comments
A young woman stands on the beach, a red flower adding a touch of whimsy to her pink bikini. Bold lines outline her figure as stylized waves crash behind her....
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
This painting captures a moment of quiet deliberation. A stunning woman with thick, lustrous hair gazes thoughtfully toward an unseen companion, her expressio...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
1990s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
This self-portrait captures a quiet moment with a neutral expression. The piece magnifies the artist's desire to live true and minimally, reflecting a sincere...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
An eight-year-old boy, thoughtfully engaged in reading one early autumn morning. This painting depicts the artist Jessica JH Roller's son, Fox, calmly immerse...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Wood Panel, Acrylic
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Cardboard, Pencil, Color Pencil
1990s Post-War Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
Artist Jessica JH Roller paints a woman sitting on the ground with her legs crossed. Vibrant wildflowers in pink and red thrive all around her. "Summer is in ...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic Polymer
Late 20th Century Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Ink, Gouache
Late 20th Century Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Ink, Gouache
1950s Post-War Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Gouache
1950s Post-War Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Gouache
1960s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Wood, Oil
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Board
1980s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Paper, Gouache
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Wood Panel, Acrylic
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1950s Post-War Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Wood
1960s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
1950s Post-War Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
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, w...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
1960s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Plaster, Wood, Casein
1980s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Paper, Gouache
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Wood Panel, Acrylic
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1950s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
20th Century Post-War Portrait Paintings
Paper, Ink
2010s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic
20th Century Post-War Portrait Paintings
Watercolor, Archival Paper
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Paper
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Early 2000s Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
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.