Oil Painting Reproductions On Canvas

Tips on Finding the Best Paintings for Sale

Leonardo Da Vinci Mona Lisa

The best way to judge paintings for sale is simply to buy what you like. After all, the way we view a piece of art is always purely subjective and what seems beautiful to one viewer may seem ugly to another. However, it always pays to be educated as to the different styles of art. This will help you define more precisely just what types of paintings for sale you like as well as the artists whose works you might be interested in. Here is a short guide to the most popular styles of art.

1. Realism. This is the style of art you will most frequently encounter as it involves simply painting things as they appear in life. As a movement, Realism became popular in France following the French Revolution, as it was believed to promote democracy. Two of the most painters who painted in a realist style were Leonardo Da Vinci, who painted masterpieces such as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, who was famed for his skilled depictions of people in paintings such as his portrait of Vincent Van Gogh and his self-portrait at the Moulin Rouge.
2. Abstract art. Painters in this style took the opposite approach to that of the realists, using images to communicate emotions or abstract ideas rather than attempting to depict objective reality. There are two main types of abstract paintings – those which abstract (or depict) objects taken from nature but which are still recognizable, such as the works of Claude Monet, or which simply depict lines, shapes and patterns on the canvas, such as the paintings of the American artist Jackson Pollock. Of course, this is an oversimplification but it gives you a general idea of what to expect from this style of painting.
3. Expressionism. This style of art lies halfway between realism and the abstract as it depicts realistic scenes, objects and people, but which were distorted or altered to express the artist’s subjective emotions. The most famous expressionist artists include Vincent Van Gogh, who created paintings such as The Starry Night, and Salvador Dali, who’s painting The Persistence of Memory infamously, depicted melting pocket watches.
4. Impressionism. This style of painting is a more intense take on the realist style in that it intends to depict the artist’s impression of an object or a person, with the focus on attempting to depict objective reality. Some of the famous Impressionist painters included Claude Monet, who is famed for his series of paintings of water lilies, and Pierre August Renoir, who is most noted for his paintings of beautiful women.
5. Surrealism. Growing out of a famous cultural movement in the 1920s, surrealist painters depicted familiar objects but in odd ways, as they would perhaps appear in a dream. Dali is also considered a surrealist, as well as painters like Joan Miro, Frida Kahlo and Marc Chagall.
6. Cubism. This is a style of modern art in which objects and people are rendered as geometric shapes and was pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. One of the most famous paintings done in the cubist style is Picasso’s anti-war mural Guernica.
7. Pop Art. A style of painting that was popularized by practitioners such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Pop Art commonly depicts objects and people popularized in the mass media but in a brash and exaggerated way. Examples of Pop Art include Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans, which is composed of 32 20-inch by 16-inch canvases, each depicting one of the different flavors of soup Campbell’s offered at the time, and Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl, which shows one panel of a comic story depicting the drowning heroine, complete with a thought balloon.

Once you know the style of painting you like, you can start looking for oil paintings for sale in this style. Depending on your budget, you can buy original paintings or reproductions of existing paintings. One of the best ways to buy paintings is to visit galleries where the artist’s work is displayed, which allows you to see the work close up and decide if it fits the décor of your house. This also lets you see several paintings of an artist whose work you like so you can decide which one you want to buy.

On the other hand, if visiting a gallery is not possible, buying online is a good alternative. Although this will not let you see the painting in person, you can look at clear images which are the next best thing. You might even be able to zoom in on certain details of the painting. Many artists who have websites also accept commissions online so you can order paintings from them.

To save money, you might want to request a gallery-wrap canvas rather than a frame if this is available. In a gallery-wrap canvas, the edges are painted with no visible staples or nails, allowing you to hang the painting unframed.

Another important thing to consider when buying a painting is the reputation of the gallery or online dealer. They should have a good reputation which no allegations of fraud or accusations of unfair dealings levied against them. To ensure that you are getting an authentic painting, the dealer should issue you a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist or, if this is not possible, by a recognized expert who has examined the painting and determined that it was really painted by a particular artist. To further validate the authenticity of a painting, a dealer may also offer its provenance as detailed in a document. Provenance traces the past ownership of a painting as well as where it has been displayed in the past, which can also help prove its authenticity.

Finally, to ensure that your investment is protected, the dealer should also offer a return policy as well as a good shipping policy that packages the painting security for shipping as well as insuring it against damage while in transit. This will ensure that the paintings for sale you purchase will arrive in good condition and that you can give back the painting if there are any problems with it.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 at 11:41 am. It is filed under ART FOR SALE ONLINE, VISUAL ARTS and tagged with paintings for sale. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.