Portrait paintings are one of the most common forms of art, and artists love depicting the human form, whether in self-portraits or famous portraits of wealthy and influential sitters. Famous portrait paintings have been created over centuries, from famous Renaissance oil paintings to Modern Art. Paintings of Christ are some of the earliest portrait paintings depicted in Religious Art.
Let us explore some of the most oil painting portraits ever created.
A portrait painting refers to any artwork depicting the human form and always emphasizes the sitter, or sitters, making them the focal point of the painting. Portrait art usually focuses on faces, torsos, or full-length representations of people. Beyond this, though, portraits appear in a massive variety of styles. From Renaissance paintings to French Impressionism and Modern Art, portrait paintings are still some of the most recognizable images in art.
If there’s one most famous portrait painting, it has to be The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. It is an enigmatic artwork famed for its beauty, extreme painterly skill, and enduring mystery. Often, artists focus on portraits of women rather than male sitters. This subject matter represents the artistic tastes of the period and prevailing gender relationships. As a result, many of the most famous paintings of women are portrait paintings.
Famous portraits include Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer and Whistler’s Mother by James McNeill Whistler. Madame X by John Singer Sargent is a notorious fine art oil painting.
Many famous artists have created self-portrait oil paintings. Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear by Vincent van Gogh is renowned for the iconic psychological insight it provides, along with its Post Impressionist style. Indeed, Van Gogh created this self portrait painting after severing his ear in Arles and his mental breakdown.
Dutch Golden Age artist Rembrandt van Rijn is particularly famed for his oil paintings and self-portraits. Rembrandt painted almost 80 portraits during his career, tracing his stylistic progression and aging from a young artist to an older man.
Popular paintings include Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck, painted in 1434, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Gustav Klimt, and The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals. Diego Velazquez Las Meninas painting also features on this list, as does the colorful wall art of Henry Matisse with his painting, Woman with Hat 1905.
Buy famous portrait paintings from our extensive collection of reproduction oil paintings for sale online.