Contemporary Paintings

Discover our selection of contemporary paintings for sale from unique, talented artists selected by our committee of experts from the art world. From oil, acrylic and watercolour, to print and canvas, all styles and techniques can be found in this selection of contemporary wall art and original paintings.

KAZoART presents some 15,000 original contemporary paintings for sale. Each painting reflects the artist's inspiration, style and artistic universe. Whatever the medium used, each painting has its own story to tell. 

Our online art gallery is dedicated to offering you a selection of high-quality modern contemporary paintings for sale produced by both emerging and established artists. We are here to help guide you in your choice of artwork or in the spontaneous purchase of a painting. Before buying original paintings, we will be on hand to help you find the perfect artwork from our selection of contemporary paintings for sale. Please contact our Customer Service team for all questions concerning the purchase of our contemporary wall art.

Renowned contemporary paintings and painters

Edouard Manet and the Impressionist painters are considered the originators of the current wave of modern painting, which began in the 1870s. They rejected the classical standards of the Academy of Art and, although still dedicated to depicting reality, chose to use a new style of painting.

This rejection of classicism paved the way for Post-Impressionist painters such as Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin. The representation of space and light evolved. Paint was considered a material in its own right.

Their successors were even more radical. Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse and Maurice de Vlaminck became the figureheads of Fauvism. The emergence of the Expressionist painters followed on from this movement. The Scream from Edvard Munch and The War from Otto Dix expressed their rejection of academic conventions and society.

In parallel to this, Cubism appeared, pioneered by Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Georges Braque. They were joined by Robert Delaunay, Henri Le Fauconnier and Fernand Léger.

The period following World War I saw the emergence of abstract art and Constructivism. Kandinsky and Paul Klee shared the stage. Art increasingly became a field for experimentation, particularly with Dadism and Surrealism, which were embodied in the work of Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró

After World War II, abstract art flourished, particularly in the United States with the abstract Expressionism of Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock.

From the 1960s, artists were no longer afraid to combine different techniques. The painter and sculptor Alexander Calder created mobiles and continued the wave of kinetic art began in the 1910s.

Art was desacralized with Yannis Kounellis and Giulio Palini, who were closely associated with the Arte Povera movement. Paolini's work Disegno Geometrico depicted a simple grid pattern on a white canvas. Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons continued this desacralization with Pop Art.

Styles and techniques in modern and contemporary painting

At the close of the 19th century, the aesthetics of beauty and the search for fidelity to nature were questioned. Historic and documentary painting became an act of communication and a concept. Artists took pleasure in provoking their audiences and staging this provocation.

The Impressionists were emancipated from the classical standards of the Academy. They left their studios to paint what they saw around them and to reproduce the effects of light. Colour was no longer mixed. Paint was used with juxtaposed strokes.

Fauvism and Cubism marked a desire to deconstruct traditional painting. Fauvism intensified the work on colour begun by the Impressionist painters to the detriment of form. Cubism, on the other hand, willingly deformed its subjects to favour form and geometry.

Art moved away from reality with abstract and conceptual art. The search for aesthetics was replaced by intellectualism.

Artworks were no longer assessed based on their technical complexity. The minimalist painter Robert Ryman was inspired by the monochrome tradition begun by Malevich in the early 20th century. In his work No Title of 1974, he painted three white squares. The subject had completely disappeared from the artwork.

Pop Art replaced the noble and historic figures of the classic era with popular icons and everyday objects in an effort to denounce our consumerist society.

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• Figurative Paintings