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Contemporary Portrait Paintings

CONTEMPORARY STYLE

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Contemporary
Artist: Gary Masline
Oil on Canvas Portrait -- In Thought
Located in Troy, NY
In this portrait, the androgynous blonde sits in the middle, among light colored sheets and towels, soft elements in an otherwise angled room. Bending forward, the subject shows an e...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Oil on Canvas Painting -- Accessorize
Located in Troy, NY
This oil on canvas painting features a beautifully formed pair of women's legs in classic red stiletto heels. The background of the painting also shares ...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Oil on Canvas -- At Day's End
Located in Troy, NY
At the center of this oil on canvas painting is the foregrounded portrait of a young man. Over his right shoulder, through some trees, appears the brilliant light of a setting sun. The man's gaze at the viewer has a languid similarity to La Gioconda. It is a laid back presentation punctuated by a brown hat worn back on red hair. The artist emphasizes the clothing texture of the pearl white shirt and the butter cream suit...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Oil on canvas Painting -- The Subterranean
Located in Troy, NY
A young blonde woman descends down the stairs as she steps into the shadows of this oil painting. The scene evokes a historic town painted mostly in lush reds with browns and olive s...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Oil on Canvas Portrait -- In Barcelona
Located in Troy, NY
A dark-hued classic portrait in oil, reflecting beauty, intelligence, and character, in an atmospheric background. The visage has been surrounded by an ethereal yellow glow and the e...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Oil on canvas Painting -- Devotion
Located in Troy, NY
A man and woman embrace in this oil painting. The woman, lost in the moment, gazes outwardly as her dark brown hair spills over peach toned skin. Her companion is trusting with eyes ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Related Items
Butterfly - Contemporary art, Portrait, Figurative
Located in Coquitlam, BC
Artist: Liang Li Born in 1985 Henan China, and currently living in Beijing In 2003, he joined the Basic Department of CAFA Modeling In 2004, he joined the Second Studio of Oil Painti...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Butterfly - Contemporary art, Portrait, Figurative
Butterfly - Contemporary art, Portrait, Figurative
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H 47.25 in W 39.38 in D 1.19 in
Rococo painting with frame by 18th-century Venetian school oil on canvas
Located in Florence, IT
The painting (with a Salvador Rosa-style gilded frame 88 x 116 cm) depicts a group of four children who are playing outside on a swinging seesaw; we are probably dealing with a prank, as can be seen by the satisfied expression of the child on the right at the expense of the one in the foreground, who seems to be supported by the others, perhaps because of the fear felt. They are dressed in the same way, with black or brown ankle boots and a kind of double-breasted jumpsuit with a rich lace collar reminiscent of the jabots of dames, blue for the one in the foreground, brick-colored for the other three. Children also look alike in the hair, typical of the period, and features, suggesting a kinship relationship. We find the same subject, for example, in Johann Zoffany...
Category

18th Century Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

10-11-9 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Nude Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Barcelona, Catalonia
“I paint the human figure and explore further till I reach the Beauty of Being, the Soul.. the part of Human Being where everything is in total Serenity, Goodness and Harmony, where ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Summer. 2021. Oil on canvas, 70x70 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Summer. 2021. Oil on canvas, 70x70 cm Colorful bright artwork with two girls Nugzar Avtandilovich Kahiani was born in Poti, Georgia in 1952. He studied at the Art College named after Nikoladze. Then he went to serve in the Soviet Army from1970 to 1972. After completing his military service he entered the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry at the faculty of artistic metal, from which he graduated in 1986. During his studies, he has been actively engaged in painting. His favorite artists are Gauguin, El Greco, Botticelli, Turner and Picasso. Works of artistic stone He worked also with stone, cornelian and onyx. But his soul gravitated to bright and blustery color, and so he has became engaged in painting. At first his paintings were quiet, with muted tonal gamma. The color image was built on the play of hues and halftones. Such a careful elaboration of color educates the taste, sharpness and delicacy of vision. Gradually, the painter became more experienced, and his paintings acquired assurance and power of maturity, blooming in colorful brilliancy. Nugzar's color preferences The color of Nugzar’s paintings is deep and multi-layered. It is woven of infinite number of hues and filled with light. At first sight it may be difficult to recognize the shapes in the play of flickering color dabs. The figures appear gradually, they draw the first breath just before our eyes, crystallizing from the color heap. The painter is attracted by major tonality and motives that years ago could be called “the gallant feasts” - repasts, assiduities, music parties, and airings. After somewhat daemonic, infernal imagery of early paintings, it has appeared the theme of “Le joie de vivre,” the joy of life. Source of inspiration Born in the ancient Kolkhida, he keeps the blissful pagan feel of entirety and completeness of being. It is embodied almost literally in his favorite personage auroral gorgeous-bodied beauty of a girl. He grants these forms even to Olympian inhabitants - Aphrodite, Athene, Arthemide, let alone the Bacchants. I remember unwittingly that Niko Pirosmani similarly painted on his impoverished buckrams the luxurious prince repasts and languid, elephantine beauties. Working style But his style is not bounded by grotesque parody, as well as the irony is not the only aspect of his world outlook. In his landscapes we can catch the ecstatic admiration with Nature. In contradistinction to his favorite impressionists, he never paints from nature and never bears in mind the particular place. It is just a blooming Earth, studied very closely, so that the trees are cut by the edges of the painting, and at the same time it is a bird’s eye view revealing infinite, boundless spaces. Nougzar says that the landscape for him is first of all a color ensemble. He can just leaf through the illustrated journal, nourishing his eye with color in various combinations, and so get the impulse to create a ‘physical’ landscape image. Probably, his landscapes are no less fantastical than his figure compositions, but such is his talent, his mission - to make the world more beautiful and gentle than it is in reality. Exhibitions Nugzar Kakhiani...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Playing around- 21st Century Contemporary Portrait of a woman
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
Alejandro Casanova Playing around 100 x 100 cm oil on canvas The Spanish artist Alejandro Casanova lives and works in Tenerife, where he moved afte...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Venice Landscape Italian Oil on Canvas Painting in Gilt Wood Frame, Belle Epoque
Located in Firenze, IT
This delightful turn of the century (early 20th century) oil on canvas painting represents an Italian landscape with one of the most famous squares in the world: Piazza San Marco in ...
Category

Early 20th Century Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Dogon by Christophe Dupety - Female Nude Painting, Contemporary
Located in Paris, FR
Dogon (2018) by French contemporary artist Christophe Dupety. Oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm. In his Human Figures series, Christophe Dupety shows us some bodies which aspect reminds more...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Waiting
Located in New York, NY
Signed on verso
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Dotted, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA

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...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Dotted, Oil Painting
Dotted, Oil Painting
H 48 in W 24 in D 1.5 in
Untitled, Figurative Art , man contemporary Mixed Media 24" x 36" by Michele
Located in Carmel, CA
Michele's paintings are about the timeline of human life, and its effect on art. For the last 15 years, Michele has been deconstructing the subject matter. In as much as she enjoy ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

In The Sun by Christophe Dupety - Male Nude Painting, Contemporary
Located in Paris, FR
In the Sun (2018) by French contemporary artist Christophe Dupety. Oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm. In his Human Figures series, Christophe Dupety shows us some bodies which aspect remind...
Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

RECLINING WOMAN
Located in Aventura, FL
Original painting on canvas. Hand signed on front by the artist. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. All reasonable offers will be considered.
Category

Late 20th Century Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Contemporary portrait paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Contemporary portrait paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add portrait paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple, pink and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Nemo Jantzen, America Martin, Jack Graves III, and Timothy Archer. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Fabric and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Contemporary portrait paintings, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are also available. Prices for portrait paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $88 and tops out at $430,743, while the average work sells for $4,000.

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