Oil paintings

What is oil painting?

This is the official origin as artists from the fourteenth century were experimenting with various formulations of egg white and oil, which were later utilized as a retouching varnish.

The painting community has widely adopted the approach proposed by the Flemish painter. On a marble slab, the painter had the idea of mixing color pigments with a drying oil (linseed or walnut oil) to obtain a soft paste to be applied on a new support: the canvas.

From then on, this painting technique has found an echo for its nobility and complexity. The great Italian painters, like Titian, contributed to the universalization of this art. Painting in oil was considered the prerogative of Impressionism, in that it was the norm in the 19th century.

The industrialization of paint in the form of paint tubes marked the peak of the technique. To paint outdoors, artists used to fill pigs' bellies with the oil mixture.

If the oil painting has long been considered as the pictorial manifestation par excellence, it is gradually caught up by the democratization of acrylic paint.

The latter has qualities that appeal to contemporary artists, who are gradually moving away from handmade oil paintings to take advantage of a reduced drying time.

 

How is oil painting done?

Oil paintings on canvas are particularly difficult but it is possible to start practicing by painting still lifes.
 

You are considering the purchase of an original oil painting on canvas? At Carré d'artistes, take the time to admire the canvas of our artists who will reveal to you all the finesse and the know-how required by this art.

 

The advantages of oil painting

• It is possible to take time, to touch up and correct mistakes without rushing.

• Oil paintings show excellent preservation qualities, lasting for decades and even centuries.

• This painting is historical and noble, it evokes great names in the history of art.

• Its compositions are varied, any type of subject can be painted: still life paintings, portraits, landscapes, genre paintings, historical paintings, abstract paintings...

• The rendering is gorgeous (shine, glaze, varnish ...)

The weaknesses of oil painting

• The smell is strong but it disappears with the drying process

The advantages of oil painting give it a rare and unique nobility. That is why, in our collection, you will online find oil paintings on high-quality cotton canvas.

 

FAMOUS OIL PAINTERS AND WORKS OF ART

The most famous are the Van Eyck brothers, for their technical and artistic contribution: Portrait of Arnolfini (1434) is one of the first works in oil on canvas in Europe.

We can cite the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (1503-1506) or Christ in the Storm at Lake Tiberias by Rembrandt

The house of the hanged man in Auvers-sur-Oise (1873) by Paul Cézanne, Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888), and Claude Monet's Water Lilies are famous illustrations.

Vassily Kandinsky, leads oil painting in a modern turn towards abstraction with squares and concentric circles.