Still-life Paintings
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Panel, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Oil
19th Century American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Classical still life of red lilies and nasturtiums. Artist Nikolay Rizhankov placed the flowers against a linen drape to highlight...
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Paper, Watercolor, Paint
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Watercolor
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Watercolor
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Watercolor
Late 19th Century American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas, Acrylic
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas, Acrylic
1970s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century American Realist Still-life Paintings
Linen, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Acrylic, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Acrylic, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Linen
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Panel, Oil
Late 19th Century American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Panel, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Panel, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Panel, Oil
Late 20th Century American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Panel
1950s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Board, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
1990s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Watercolor, Paper
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Panel
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Panel, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Panel, Oil
Late 19th Century American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Panel, Oil
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Still-life Paintings
Acrylic, Newsprint, Mixed Media
Artist Comments
"I would describe this still life of tulips as uncommon, novel, and intriguing," says artist Nicole Lamothe. "I was initially attracted to the striped leaves ...
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
20th Century American Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Jo Galang says this piece was inspired by a lovely bouquet she received from her son and his girlfriend on Mother's Day. "It was so beautiful, and the ...
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Artist Comments
This is a piece I painted after I did a photo shoot in my backyard. I was interested in photographing the saxophone on a bright sunny day with a field of grass ...
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Acrylic
2010s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
19th Century American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
1970s American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Artist Comments
A twinkling, realist still life of strong black coffee. Fine detail in the many shadows and shiny surfaces. "A morning cup of coffee is on many people's agendas," says Kristine. "Hot, black, the perfect jolt of caffeine in a classic porcelain cup and saucer, this eye-opener is ready 24 hours a day."
About the Artist
For Kristine Kainer, recreating her emotional attachments to subject matter, whether a still-life or landscape, is paramount. Her goal is to emotionally trigger a response in the viewer. But, "this response does not need to replicate my own feelings; instead, I hope to make the viewer pause for a moment, reflect upon, then respond to my work in a personal, meaningful way."
Words that describe this painting: coffee, breakfast, food, kitchen, still life, cuisine, realism, representational, oil painting, grey
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
This is another in a series of paintings I have executed over the years exploring ponds, waterlilies, koi and goldfish. The lilies on my pond tend to flower f...
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Still-life Paintings
Found Objects, Oil
Shop Still-Life Paintings on 1stDibs
Still-life paintings work as part of the decor in nearly every type of space.
Still-life art, which includes work produced in media such as painting, photography, video and more, is a popular genre in Western art. However, the depiction of still life in color goes back to Ancient Egypt, where paintings on the interior walls of tombs portrayed the objects — such as food — that a person would take into the afterlife. Ancient Greek and Roman mosaics and pottery also often depicted food. Indeed, still-life paintings frequently feature food, flowers or man-made objects. By definition, still-life art represents anything that is considered inanimate.
During the Middle Ages, the still life genre was adapted by artists who illustrated religious manuscripts. A common theme of these paintings is the reminder that life is fleeting. This is especially true of vanitas, a kind of still life with roots in the Netherlands during the 17th century, which was built on themes such as death and decay and featured skulls and objects such as rotten fruit. In northern Europe during the 1600s, painters consulted botanical texts to accurately depict the flowers and plants that were the subject of their work.
Leonardo da Vinci’s penchant for observing phenomena in nature and filling notebooks with drawings and notes helped him improve as an artist of still-life paintings. Vincent van Gogh, an artist who made a couple of the most expensive paintings ever sold, carried out rich experiments with color over the course of painting hundreds of still lifes, and we can argue that Campbell’s Soup Cans (1961–62) by Andy Warhol counts as still-life art.
While early examples were primarily figurative, you can find still lifes that belong to different schools and styles of painting, such as Cubism, Impressionism and contemporary art.
As part of the wall decor in your living room, dining room or elsewhere, a still-life painting can look sophisticated alongside your well-curated decorative objects and can help set the mood in a space.
When shopping for a still-life painting, think about how it makes you feel and how the artist chose to represent its subject. When buying any art for your home, choose pieces that you connect with. If you’re shopping online, read the description of the work to learn about the artist and check the price and shipping information. Make sure that the works you choose complement or relate to your overall theme and furniture style. Artwork can either fit into your room’s color scheme or serve as an accent piece. Introduce new textures to a space by choosing an oil still-life painting.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of still-life paintings in a wide range of styles and subject matter.