Portrait Paintings
20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Fabric, Oil, Wood, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Mixed Media, Charcoal
Late 19th Century Romantic Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Mixed Media, Canvas, Acrylic
1730s French School Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 19th Century Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Gold Leaf
2010s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Acrylic, Ink
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Acrylic, Ink
20th Century Other Art Style Portrait Paintings
Coating
Artist Comments
The painting depicts a typical day of commuting, with passengers lost in thought or absorbed in their phones as they await their stops. The lack of direct interaction between them highlights the solitary yet collective experience of modern urban life. Their different colored attire adds vibrancy to the everyday scene.
About the Artist
Words that describe this painting: bus, cellphone, waiting, sitting, autumn, season, travel, sitting, text, vehicle, people, travel, primitive, oil painting, beige
Bus People
Connie Millholland...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Portrait Paintings
Gold Leaf
20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Gouache, Paper
Artist Comments
This painting draws inspiration from an old photograph from 1945, capturing a joyous moment of five ladies holding hands in celebration. Their faces light up with smiles and laughter, radiating an infectious delight. The contrasting colors of red and green bring a simple yet visually harmonious element to the scene.
About the Artist
Words that describe this painting: happy, joy, celebration, women, woman, dancing, dress, friends, friendship, people, fashion, primitive, oil painting, pink
1945
Connie Millholland...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Abstract Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Gesso, Oil, Acrylic
Late 19th Century Symbolist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Modern Portrait Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
In a subway station, commuters engage in various pastimes as they wait for the train to arrive. One reads a newspaper, another talks on a cell phone, while the rest occupy themselves with their thoughts. Amidst the bustle, mumbled conversations, and rumbling railway noises, the red-haired woman sits with her eyes closed, immersed in a contemplative moment.
About the Artist
Words that describe this painting: train, subway, cellphone, newspaper, reading, waiting, Isabel Bishop, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, primitivism, travel, text, urban, people, travel, primitive, oil painting, grey
Anywhere
Connie Millholland...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Ink, Acrylic
1950s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Board, Oil
Mid-17th Century Renaissance Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Ink, Paper
16th Century Flemish School Portrait Paintings
Panel, Oil
2010s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Ink, Acrylic
2010s Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Ink, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
Artist Comments
A young woman wearing a matching gray dress and boots stops in the middle of a city street. Her eyes widen as she looks back on so...
21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Portrait Paintings
Oil
17th Century Dutch School Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil Pastel, Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Graphite
21st Century and Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Panel, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
1920s Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Cardboard, Oil
Late 19th Century Romantic Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Linen
19th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Acrylic, Canvas
Early 20th Century Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
19th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings
Metal
2010s Abstract Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Neo-Expressionist Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Paintings
Oil
16th Century Portrait Paintings
Panel, Oil
Early 19th Century Folk Art Portrait Paintings
Wood Panel, Oil
18th Century Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
Shop Antique and Vintage Portrait Paintings
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.
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