Oil Painting for Sale
Save your search and find it in your favorites
Save your search to find it quickly
Saved search
Your search is accessible from the favorites tab > My favorite searches
Unsaved search
A problem occurred
Autorretrato con fondo blanco
Carmen Selma
Painting - 65 x 50 x 2 cm Painting - 25.6 x 19.7 x 0.8 inch
$2,101
Santorini Magic (1)
Sokratis Evgenidis
Painting - 80 x 80 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
$6,224
Golden path of nurture
Vahe Bagumyan
Painting - 40 x 30 x 2 cm Painting - 15.7 x 11.8 x 0.8 inch
$380
Expression… (Expression libre)
Olivier Messas
Painting - 100 x 100 x 5 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 2 inch
$5,658
Animal Painting # 018-1563
Les Thomas
Painting - 61 x 61 x 4 cm Painting - 24 x 24 x 1.6 inch
$2,999 $2,699
Animal Painting # 022-2027
Les Thomas
Painting - 76 x 76 x 4 cm Painting - 29.9 x 29.9 x 1.6 inch
$4,917
Ravengers of Spirit
Gabrielle Strong
Painting - 76 x 152 x 4 cm Painting - 29.9 x 59.8 x 1.6 inch
$2,574
The Morning Flowers
Ramaz Chantladze
Painting - 90 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$5,658
Repetition, Series of Ballerinas
Ramaz Chantladze
Painting - 90 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$3,961
Par dessus les grillages 2
Hélène Deghilage
Painting - 100 x 130 cm Painting - 39.4 x 51.2 inch
$4,753
Celestial Symphony
Maria Matveyeva
Painting - 90 x 90 x 2 cm Painting - 35.4 x 35.4 x 0.8 inch
$2,716
Alysse des rochers
Ksenia Milicevic
Painting - 80 x 100 x 3 cm Painting - 31.5 x 39.4 x 1.2 inch
$4,527
Le vin du souvenir
Ksenia Milicevic
Painting - 100 x 80 x 3 cm Painting - 39.4 x 31.5 x 1.2 inch
$5,432
Refraction of Light Green
Bernadette Jiyong Frank
Painting - 76 x 61 x 3 cm Painting - 29.9 x 24 x 1.2 inch
$5,941
Refraction of Light
Bernadette Jiyong Frank
Painting - 76 x 61 x 3 cm Painting - 29.9 x 24 x 1.2 inch
$5,941
Refraction of Blue and Green
Bernadette Jiyong Frank
Painting - 76 x 61 x 3 cm Painting - 29.9 x 24 x 1.2 inch
$5,941
La femme orcherstre
Laurent Proneur
Painting - 152.4 x 121.9 x 5.1 cm Painting - 60 x 48 x 2 inch
$34,100
Autumn storm
Alisa Onipchenko-Cherniakovska
Painting - 50 x 80 x 2.5 cm Painting - 19.7 x 31.5 x 1 inch
$1,600
Blue summer
Alisa Onipchenko-Cherniakovska
Painting - 59.9 x 59.9 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$1,450
Vers la Montagne Blanche
Pierrick Tual
Painting - 80 x 40 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$1,924
Palace of Westminster
Volodymyr Kolesnyk
Painting - 50 x 65 x 2 cm Painting - 19.7 x 25.6 x 0.8 inch
$962
The Temptations of St. Anthony
Miguel Branco
Painting - 26 x 18 x 2 cm Painting - 10.2 x 7.1 x 0.8 inch
$3,961
Landscape with submarine (After Joachim Patinir)
Miguel Branco
Painting - 14.5 x 31 x 2 cm Painting - 5.7 x 12.2 x 0.8 inch
$3,961
"Pura Vida" , Vie pure, abstraction inspirée de Joan Miró
Catherine Clare
Painting - 46 x 38 x 2.5 cm Painting - 18.1 x 15 x 1 inch
$1,471
Getting To The Other Side
Lisa H Ridabock
Painting - 61 x 91.4 x 3.8 cm Painting - 24 x 36 x 1.5 inch
$2,570
In the shades of transparency 1
Ulyana Korol
Painting - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Painting - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$2,490
Petit-déjeuner aux clémentines
Francine Van Hove
Painting - 73 x 116 cm Painting - 28.7 x 45.7 inch
$22,972
Un bout d'espace #2
Marianne Quinzin
Painting - 116 x 89 x 2 cm Painting - 45.7 x 35 x 0.8 inch
$3,169
Rotterdam et moi 2
Marian Williams
Painting - 130 x 97 x 2 cm Painting - 51.2 x 38.2 x 0.8 inch
$3,338
Rotterdam et moi 1
Marian Williams
Painting - 130 x 97 x 2 cm Painting - 51.2 x 38.2 x 0.8 inch
$3,338
Wildflower Symphony
Hrach Baghdasaryan
Painting - 60 x 40 x 2 cm Painting - 23.6 x 15.7 x 0.8 inch
$360
Synergie
Sylvie Julkowski-Egard
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$2,150
Discover the styles & movements
Discover the selection of our experts
Oil Painting for Sale
Oil painting is a type of paint which involves mixing crushed color pigments usually with linseed oil, although poppy seed oil can also be used. The support on which it is painted must be covered with a primer beforehand so that the layer of paint can adhere to the support; an additional step which is crucial to the creative process and also means that it can be adapted to many types of surfaces.
It was during the Middle Ages that oil painting first appeared and began to be developed in the Western world. The discovery of oil painting is often attributed to the Flemish painter, Jan Van Eyck who had been experimenting with various mixtures. With this new painting technique, his works benefited from new transparency effects and a new type of aesthetic was born. His approach was copied and later shared more widely by other primitive Flemish painters. Oil painting replaced the tempera technique, which uses egg as a binder.
Similarly, the wood on which artists painted was replaced by linen canvas, installed on a frame from the 15th century onwards and later placed on an easel. Although it was well-liked by painters, this medium had its drawbacks; its components were toxic and its preparation required a great amount of artisan savoir-faire in the studio. Despite this, it became closely linked to the visual arts and and was hugely popularised during the Renaissance thanks to the Venetian painters such as Titian, followed closely by the Flemish, including Rubens, before it reached the Netherlands who made it their own, with Rembrandt leading the way.
The 19th and 20th centuries saw oil painting became the number one choice and the preferred medium for for modern times. The mixture no longer had to be prepared by artists in the studio; industrialization had made things easier and the paint came pre-prepared, packaged in tubes. The tin tube was commercialized in France in 1840 and revolutionised the history of art by encouraging the Impressionists to take their brushes and paints outside and paint en plein air. It would slowly be overtaken by acrylic paint a century later which simplified things even further as it was dried faster.
An oil painting canvas also implies that the painter must respect the fat-over-lean principle, meaning that a colors with high oil content (fat) should be applied over layers of paint with lower oil content (lean) to ensure that the painting will last longer and to prevent cracking. Oil painting remains a widely used method and numerous artworks are still made using this technique.
Contemporary artists still master oil painting but sometimes avoid working with it in the same traditional ways of the 20th century. The canvas is often not prepared so that its texture can be seen under the layer of paint, as certain abstract painters have done. Jackson Pollock for example used oil painting but did not glaze his works. He didn't even truly paint his canvases as he used a dripping technique; by shaking his brush he created splashes of paint over the canvas…
On Artsper, explore contemporary paintings by well-known artists including Arman, Salvador Dali and Robert Combas.
Oil painting allows for very efficient mixing of colors and tones. Due to its long drying time, it is possible to alter an oil painting days after the paint has been applied. Oil painting also allows for precision and a range of visual effects.
Oil paint and acrylic paint are produced using different materials. While oil painting consists of pigments suspended in drying oils, acrylic paint is water-based. The main difference between the two is that acrylic paints can be thinned down with water, and dry faster than oil paints.
It is easier to correct mistakes when working in oil paint as they are more opaque than watercolors and can be easily scraped off a surface.