William Bougeureau
2010s Contemporary Interior Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Nude Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Oil
Marten HuitsingArriva la Pioggia- 21st Century Contemporary Figure Painting of a Farmer's Wife, 2016
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Oil, Canvas
19th Century Nude Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Artist Comments
"On hot summer afternoons on the East Side of Milwaukee, a young man could often be seen carrying his pet Tegu lizard to Bradford Beach so it could bask in the ...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Animal Paintings
Acrylic
17th Century Old Masters Paintings
Oil
Mid-19th Century Old Masters Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1970s Post-Impressionist Nude Paintings
Oil, Canvas
17th Century Baroque Still-life Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1890s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 17th Century Dutch School Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Academic Paintings
Panel, Paint, Oil
19th Century Academic Nude Paintings
Oil
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Panel
20th Century Abstract Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil
1950s Impressionist Abstract Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Recent Sales
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil
Marten HuitsingRegler - 21st Century Contemporary Oil Painting by artist Dutch Marten Huitsing, 2019
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Nude Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil
20th Century Romantic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
A Close Look at contemporary Art
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.
Finding the Right figurative-paintings for You
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.