Whether beginning a new genre of painting or continuing one you already enjoy, it is always extremely beneficial to adopt a seasoned mentor that exemplifies your genre or painting style. Famous oil painters in art history provide the best examples to follow, not only because of their already recognized accomplishments, but also because of the widespread availability of their paintings in museums all over the world. If you aren’t already inspired by a particular painter or group of painters, then taking the time to find one that closely resembles your own work will still prove to be a valuable learning process and will consequently strengthen the effectiveness of your artwork and maybe even inspire new ones. In the same way, if you have decided to embark on painting a new subject or using a new technique, studying accomplished artists will help gain you an effective understanding of your direction before you even start.
Art history books and museums are filled with artists who are famous not only for the talent behind the creation of their paintings, but in most cases because of innovative ideas or techniques that marked them to carve out milestones throughout the history of art. To understand the reasons why they are unique enough to earn eternal recognition in history will guide you toward learning how your own artwork can achieve that status similarly in your viewer’s eyes.
Here below is a list of numerous oil painters who have marked history as accomplished painters in their fields. In no particular order, each may not be the only artist deserving to be recognized for each style, genre, or technique, but they are each highly acclaimed in those areas and the viewing of their paintings is readily available throughout the world. I highly recommend finding an artist in this list that closely resembles even just a part of your own artistic process. Locate not only on the Internet examples of their paintings, but go out and study in person their masterpieces at a local gallery or museum.
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) (1571-1610) - For those of you who revel in the traditional oil painting methods of layering and glazing, Carravaggio is a prime example. He is accredited with making popular and exemplifying dramatic chiaroscuro and powerful foreshortening. In reproductions, the images may seem very dark, but in person the effect is magnificent as the light resonates off the canvas in contrast to the dark looming shadows.
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