Oil paintings are considered the most versatile form among painting styles. Through the centuries, oil paintings have evolved, adopted different styles, witnessed number of genres, adopted creative influences from art forms across the world and risen in popularity. Even today, they rank among the high priced works of art and if you are planning to buy some good, original oil paintings, you better have some money in hand. Though painters use various materials such as watercolours, charcoal, acrylic and whatever they can think of to give shape to their ideas, oil is still one of the most popular mediums, whether on canvas or on cardboard.

The four main categories of oil paintings are:

1. Landscape

Imagine an artist standing in front of a canvas perched on an easel, brush in one hand and the color plate in the other and lost in thought, you are most likely to visualise a backdrop of the mountains, sky, sea, river and forest. Since the history of landscape painting is as old as the early civilization, it has been one of the most popular subject matter for artists over the generations.

Original oil paintings of landscapes have created history, adorned museums and private collections and fetched millions of dollars and pounds in prices. Landscape paintings can be further classified into many other forms like seascapes, skycapes, moonscapes, cityscapes, etc., and is still undergoing experiments.

2. Portraiture

Well, just saying "Monalisa" should explain this I suppose. The most enigmatic portrait ever which everyone knows, even those who don't know anything about art perhaps.

The visual appearance of people, captured in different moods and angles, in different shades of light and shadow have always been a favourite subject for artists. Moreover a portrait painting tries to highlight the inner essence of the subject rather than the physical side. Beside human beings, artists also choose animals, pets and even inanimate objects as their subjects for a portrait.

As these type of paintings are realistic in nature; great attention is paid by the artists in highlighting the minute details of facial structure, body composition, pose, mood, expression and also the backdrop.

3. Still Life

Still life oil painting is an ultimate work of art where an artist ties to depict inanimate subject matters. Close-range renditions of objects arranged on a table or other flat surface is the most common subject in this type of oil paintings.

Though each artist has his own creative ideas, typically you will find her giving importance to realistic details rather than impressionistic techniques. Since the 17th century, still life paintings have been quite popular amongst western painters and especially South African artists who have created amazing work of art on this subject.

4. Abstract

These types of oil paintings are simply above realism. It is a form of art that in no way has any connection to the natural world. In an abstract painting, an artist tries to depict a mood or a feeling. As there are many different styles of abstract art, it is simply impossible to categorize them specifically.

To understand an abstract painting, you need to give time to study it and analyze it. The same painting can mean different things to different people. It is the way one wants to look at it or say, define it.

There is a huge demand for original oil paintings amongst buyers who want them for their private collections.

Even if you are not an art collector and simply want to add a touch of elegance and class to your living room decor, an original oil painting can do wonders. No matter, whether you are looking for original oil paintings or giclee reproductions, you will find a huge number of them at online art gallery. All you need to do is browse and pick an original oil painting to match your taste.