Painters

Painters are artists who create images by applying pigment to surfaces such as canvas, wood, paper, or walls. They work across a wide range of genres, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes, abstracts, and historical or religious scenes. The term covers professional artists who exhibit and sell work, as well as amateur or self-taught practitioners who pursue painting as a practice or vocation.

Common media include oil paint, acrylics, watercolors, gouache, tempera, and fresco. Supports range from stretched canvas and panels to paper and plaster walls. Techniques vary from glazing and alla prima to impasto, dry brushing, and sfumato, with tools such as brushes, knives, and airbrushes. Practice often combines observation, imagination, and experimentation with color, tone, and composition.

Throughout history, painters have played central roles in culture and religion, education, and public life. Training has taken many forms, from guild ateliers and formal academies to studio practice and self-directed study. Painters may work freelance, on commissions, or as part of workshops, galleries, or institutions, and their work is circulated through exhibitions, collections, and archives.

Today, painting extends beyond traditional easel works to include large-scale murals, street art, and digital or mixed-media projects. Conservation and restoration address the preservation of painted works. The field also recognizes a range of specialties, from fine-art painters to decorative or mural painters, illustrating the diversity of practices that fall under the broad category of painting.