Sasja W

Viewing the large-scale still-life paintings by Dutch artist Sasja Wagenaar is rewarding on two fronts. From afar, delicate flowers and blossoming branches laid across Chinese ceramics appear completely realistic. Then, as one approaches, playful shadows and ethereal reflections reveal the brushstrokes of the works, transporting viewers to a calm, but otherworldly, place.

Wagenaar was born in 1959 in Noord-Scharwoude, the Netherlands. In 1985, she graduated from the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Her early painting practice included decorating children’s furniture with her sister and fellow artist, Annalinda Wagenaar. 

She now works out of a studio in the Spaarnwoude area in South Velsen. Her lush paintings employ traditional subjects for Dutch still lifes — a genre that flourished in the 17th century with paintings by the Old Masters — such as food, flowers and table settings. Yet she imbues the acrylic on canvas works with a contemporary perspective that elevates the quiet beauty of everyday moments. The rich contrasts of color and frequent use of fabric patterns or reflective surfaces as backgrounds further the paintings’ atmospheric tones. Frequently created on monumental scales, the works draw the viewer into their absorbing scenes. 

Complementing her visual artistry, Wagenaar is also a member of Wagenaar van Co, a small collective that also includes Dutch artists Annalinda Wagenaar and Jeroen Effernf. She has exhibited her work at art fairs in Europe and around the world, including Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam and Naarden The Art Fair. 

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Sasja Wagenaar’s paintings.

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.

Figurative art, as opposed to abstract art, retains features from the observable world in its representational depictions of subject matter. Most commonly, figurative paintings reference and explore the human body, but they can also include landscapes, architecture, plants and animals — all portrayed with realism.

While the oldest figurative art dates back tens of thousands of years to cave wall paintings, figurative works made from observation became especially prominent in the early Renaissance. Artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance masters created naturalistic representations of their subjects.

Pablo Picasso is lauded for laying the foundation for modern figurative art in the 1920s. Although abstracted, this work held a strong connection to representing people and other subjects. Other famous figurative artists include Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Figurative art in the 20th century would span such diverse genres as Expressionism, Pop art and Surrealism.

Today, a number of figural artists — such as Sedrick Huckaby, Daisy Patton and Eileen Cooper — are making art that uses the human body as its subject.

Because figurative art represents subjects from the real world, natural colors are common in these paintings. A piece of figurative art can be an exciting starting point for setting a tone and creating a color palette in a room.

Browse an extensive collection of figurative paintings on 1stDibs.