Paintings

Carré d'artistes presents you a selection of unique contemporary paintings to buy.

Buy a painting Carré d'artistes

Discover your favourite painting style through a wide range of modern and contemporary canvas paintings to buy on our website and in our art galleries.
Carré d'artistes advocates accessible art for all, so when you buy a contemporary painting, you allow artists to live from their passion. 

Art lovers? Everyone can find happiness because Carré d'artistes offers various styles and techniques such as: acrylic painting, watercolor painting, oil painting, abstract paintings...
Each painting has its own story, whatever the medium, the technique or the style used by its author. 
Our art curators can help you find the perfect piece of art from our selection of contemporary paintings for sale with advice over the phone or by video conference.
 

Painting: Modern and Contemporary Art 

Contemporary art refers to the art of today, i.e. from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century.  Modern painting is a period that begins in the 1850s and ends in the mid-1950s, while contemporary art begins after the war. Modern paintings therefore correspond to a period preceding contemporary art.
 

Contemporary painting, a universal vector of emotion

Pictorial art is the retranscription of an emotion through the brushstroke of the painter. Since time immemorial, artists have succeeded in transforming an ephemeral thought into a work of art that will last for centuries.
 

The artists' means of expression

The pictorial epic cannot be summed up with Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci. This practice accompanied the cradle of humanity during the prehistoric era, a period in which the first men expressed themselves through a mixture close to watercolour.

The techniques that allow the artist to develop his thoughts on the blank canvas have adapted and evolved according to the painting trends that have ruled the centuries. Jan Van Eyck, for example, was the precursor of the Renaissance style of painting thanks to his improvement of oil painting.  Da Vinci was then inspired by this technique to invent the "Stumafo".

Each technique has properties that allow painters to obtain particular effects. Watercolour is used to create soft, watery landscapes, while oil is used to obtain a satin-like, rough appearance. Contemporary paintings are generally associated with acrylics, which offer a short drying time and good long-term conservation of the work.  They actually use all possible painting techniques.
 

The painting style, representation of thought on canvas

Painting techniques constitute a breeding ground that allows the contemporary artist to mix all styles. Depending on whether the artist wishes to emphasise texture, colour or transparency, he or she will turn to a particular technique to move towards abstract or figurative art.

Realism, for example, was characterised by the need to transcribe a personal vision of a fixed event. Artists used oil paint and watercolour to address issues of colour and transparency.

Contemporary art has broken the codes of academic painting, so that the paintings are characterised by artistic thought at the expense of realism. In this way, all techniques are given pride of place to depict all styles.
 

The birth of modern and contemporary art

The leading figures of the post-impressionist movements
Impressionism marked a break with traditional painting practices. Contemporary painting was initiated by Manet, who broke the codes to work on a more personal dimension of the work. While remaining realistic, the painter played with colours and textures.

The expansion of minimalist painting is mainly due to Braque and Picasso. Cubism marks the representation of nature through geometric forms. This current of thought continues to inspire certain modern artists who seek to depict their vision of the world by distorting reality.
Painting as we know it today developed after the Second World War.