Larry Stanton

Patricia Gren Hayes is a Bay Area Figurative/Feminist Art Movement artist who studied at Winnipeg Public Art School in 1950. She received early recognition in Museum and Gallery competitions and exhibitions and was awarded a Special Education in Art recognition by the Winnipeg Museum of Fine Art as well as a scholarship to the Banff College of Fine Art. Further studies were at the University of Manitoba.

Hayes was a Member of Winnipeg Free Press Sketch Club and was a cartoonist and paste-up for a French-English bi-weekly in Eastern Canada. She studied outdoor Impressionism in New York, 1960; attended the California College of Arts and Crafts, 1962, and BA, U.C. Berkeley, 1976, where she studied under Elmer Bischoff, David Simpson, Joan Brown, Felix Ruvolo, Yolanda Lopez and Vincent Perez. Hayes started a freelance commercial art business in 1963; copyrighted a National Cartoon, 1976, and served as Exhibition Director for San Francisco Woman Artists Gallery and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1976–78. She was a workshop instructor at the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, 1977–85, and was Manager/Owner Stanton Art Gallery, Alameda, CA, 1976–82. Hayes exhibited solo at Berkeley Marina, 1974; Oakland Center for The Visual Arts, "Images of Women," 1979.

Painting is an art form that has spanned innumerable cultures, with artists using the medium to tell stories, explore and communicate ideas and express themselves. To bring abstract paintings, landscape paintings, still-life paintings and other original paintings into your home is to celebrate and share in the long tradition of this discipline.

When we look at paintings, particularly those that originated in the past, we learn about history, other cultures and countries of the world. Like every other work of art, paintings — whether they are contemporary creations or works that were made during the 19th century — can often help us clearly see and understand the world around us in a meaningful and interesting way.

Cave walls were the canvases for what were arguably the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict natural scenery through art. Portrait paintings and drawings, which, along with sculpture, were how someone’s appearance was recorded prior to the advent of photography, are at least as old as Ancient Egypt. In the Netherlands, landscapes were a major theme for painters as early as the 1500s. Later, artists in Greece, Rome and elsewhere created vast wall paintings to decorate stately homes, churches and tombs.

Today, creating a wall of art is a wonderful way to enhance your space, showcase beautiful pieces and tie an interior design together.

No matter your preference, whether you favor Post-Impressionist paintings, animal paintings, Surrealism, Pop art or another movement or specific period, arranging art on a blank wall allows you to evoke emotions in a room while also showing off your tastes and interests. A symmetrical wall arrangement may comprise a grid of four to six pieces or, for an odd number of works, a horizontal row. Asymmetrical arrangements, which may be small clusters of art or large, salon-style gallery walls, have a more collected and eclectic feel.

Download the 1stDibs app, which includes a handy “View on Wall” feature that allows you to see how a particular artwork will look on a particular wall, and read about how to arrange wall art. And if you’re searching for the perfect palette for your interior design project, what better place to turn than to the art world’s masters of color? 

On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive collection of paintings and other fine art for your home or office. Browse abstract paintings, portrait paintings, paintings by emerging artists and more today.