{"id":1165437,"date":"2026-08-23T20:56:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T20:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1165437\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T20:56:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T20:56:01","slug":"12-contemporary-artists-making-portraiture-feel-modern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1165437\/","title":{"rendered":"12 contemporary artists making portraiture feel modern"},"content":{"rendered":"

For centuries, commissioning a portrait was entirely normal. How else would one capture their friends and family and celebrate important moments than by hanging an impressive oil painting above the fireplace? When you think of the great portrait artists, from Franz Xaver Winterhalter to John Singer Sargent, you think of lush, oil-slick brushstrokes, dramatic use of light, seated subjects often holding fruit or flowers<\/a>. Now, of course, this would all seem a little, well, dramatic. Even the notion of sitting for a portrait sounds like the kind of thing reserved for the Royals. And yet, a new wave of contemporary artists are harking back to these old traditions and making them their own.<\/p>\n

Take the artwork for Lily Allen\u2019s acclaimed 2025 album, West End Girl, for example. Allen commissioned 29-year-old Spanish painter Nieves Gonz\u00e1lez to paint<\/a> a Baroque-inspired portrait of the singer, blending classical techniques with an oversized puffer jacket \u2013 a piece which immediately has become iconic and is currently hanging in the National Portrait Gallery.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just world-famous singers who are commissioning portraits, though. Fashion editor Daisy Murray\u2019s birthday was marked by a portrait of herself and her youngest daughter. \u2018I would love to sit for a classic portrait at some point in my life, but this feels much more representative of where I am and where my family is at this time \u2013 brash, bold, messy but colourful,\u2019 she says. \u2018My husband knew I wouldn’t want a classic, hyper-romantic portrait of me or motherhood and Felix Higham\u2019s boldness was the perfect choice.\u2019<\/p>\n

Founder of art<\/a> platform SOTA, Emma Lang, agrees that portraiture is increasing in popularity, suggesting that it gives artists the power to shine a light on their communities. \u2018I\u2019m seeing more portraiture from emerging and mid-market artists, perhaps partly as a response to the historic lack of representation within the art world. Portraiture has become an important vehicle for artists to make themselves and their communities visible, whether through self-portraiture or by reflecting the people, cultures and traditions around them.\u2019 If you\u2019re looking for ones to watch, Emma recommends Sophie Goudman Peachey, Katherine Allen, Emma Tindale and Gavin Dobson \u2018for modern artists taking on this theme with a fresh take\u2019.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re interested in commissioning a personal piece or like the idea of playing with classical-style portraiture in a contemporary space, there are so many options. Mix into an existing scheme, integrate into a gallery wall, place somewhere unexpected like above a door frame or go bold, and hang your own oil painting above the fireplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For centuries, commissioning a portrait was entirely normal. How else would one capture their friends and family and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1165438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3939],"tags":[2606,4021,4020,4022,77,316335,16,15],"class_list":["post-1165437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-the-affordable-art-guide","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117146824401967746","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1165438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}