Surely you’ll find the exact 20th century oil portrait you’re seeking on 1stDibs — we’ve got a vast assortment for sale. In our selection of items, you can find
Impressionist examples as well as a
Modern version. Making the right choice when shopping for a 20th century oil portrait may mean carefully reviewing examples of this item dating from different eras — you can find an early iteration of this piece from the 18th Century and a newer version made as recently as the 21st Century. On 1stDibs, the right 20th century oil portrait is waiting for you and the choices span a range of colors that includes
brown,
black,
gray and
orange. There have been many interesting 20th century oil portrait examples over the years, but those made by
Jacques Zucker,
Raymond Debieve,
Jean-Gabriel Domergue,
Linda Le Kinff and
Monique Baudaux are often thought to be among the most thought-provoking. Artworks like these — often created in
paint,
oil paint and
fabric — can elevate any room of your home. A large 20th century oil portrait can prove too dominant for some spaces — a smaller 20th century oil portrait, measuring 1 high and 1 wide, may better suit your needs.
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.