Take care while buying paintings for sale
Art dealers are also little by little offering their paintings for sale online. Naturally, it is not always easy to find the suitable contact in order to buy paintings on the internet. You have to pay attention to the respectability and prominence of the shop, look for an assortment that suits your interests and a dealer who offers good advice and the best service. Kunst & Ambiente, being an experienced online dealer, meets the highest standards. If you want to buy art for sale, you have come to the right place. If you are not sure which abstract paintings correspond with your ideas, we are happy to advise you and help you buy the modern paintings that suit you perfectly.
What you have to keep in mind when you buy paintings from an online shop
There are also black sheep among online art dealers. However, if you keep an eye out for certain signs, you will be satisfied with your purchased modern art. If you are searching for a hand-painted original, be wary of terms such as digital canvas print, art print, digital art print and the like. Whenever you find those keywords in either a product title or its description, it might very well be modern art, but it will not be an original piece. Also, be warned that a signature nowadays is not a guarantee for an original, as prints can easily be signed later. To the eyes of an amateur, this might look confusingly similar to an original.
Avoiding unnecessary costs
When you have decided on a painting, you demonstrate your appreciation of the artist by paying the price that they set for their art. This might sometimes be not that little. That is why you should not be fooled into paying any added costs when buying art for sale. Respectable dealers will send the fitting frame for the painting for free as the painting will already be framed and ready for its hanging. Therefore, if a dealer wants to gain some more money from the deal, they will offer the frames separately at exorbitant prices. Consequently, you should watch out for corresponding hints in the product descriptions of the paintings. Naturally, we always offer paintings that already include the fitting frames.
Preparing for the future: protection against discolouring
When you are purchasing modern art online, you of course cannot check how the painting was created and whether or not it was sealed. Therefore, you should look for hints for a final seal or final varnish in the product description. This seal protects the colours and the material from UV radiation, mechanical influences and dust. The final varnish is an additional important part of the painting's effect as it is responsible for its gleam. The possibilities range from full gloss to matte. If there should be no mention of a final varnish in the description, just get in contact and ask.
Varnish and its effects
A varnish gives the painting a shiny, silky or matte gleam. Depending on the used material, it can also brighten up the colours. Yet those are only welcome side effects. First and foremost, a varnish is supposed to protect the original, it helps with the conservation of the layers of colour and reduces the influence of oxygen and humidity. Therefore, you should see whether or not the work of art of your choice is equipped with such a protective layer. If that should not be the case, you should ask why that is before buying the painting. Sometimes there are certain circumstances where this protective layer is not recommendable.
The right moment is crucial
Before the application of the final seal, the paint has to be completely dried. In the case of thin layers of paint, the application is already possible after a few weeks. As a rule, it is recommended to wait six to seven months first. If the layers of paint are especially thick, this period is extended to one year.
Which products can be used?
There are numerous sprays available on the market. Even though this seems like a fast and easy solution, it is rarely advisable. A lot of sprays tend to react with the oil and acrylic colours after a few months. If you should choose a spray nonetheless, you should test it first on an unobtrusive and hardly visible point on the oil or acrylic material. The best spot is somewhere behind the frame. After waiting a few weeks, you should closely examine the result before spraying the whole painting. Yet, natural materials like resin or bee wax are better suited for more precious paintings, as those materials can be removed and reapplied. Additionally, they do not react with oil or acrylic. Furthermore, bee wax and resin can be mixed easily in order to set the degree of the gleam of the seal.
Applying a varnish
You could easily apply the seal on your paintings yourself, but an expert can do that for you in a less expensive way. If you want to try to seal your paintings on your own, you should first do a test run on a less quality painting. The goal is to not leave brush traces during the application. The process itself is rather simple, just apply the seal once horizontally and afterwards once more in a thin vertical layer. Finally, just let the seal dry and you will be able to enjoy your work of art for a very long time.
After the purchase: putting abstract paintings in the limelight
When you buy modern wall paintings, you of course also want to showcase them perfectly in your venues. The most important thing is buying the wall paintings that you like. Whether abstract painting, modern art or realistic work: if the painting is to your liking, showcasing it in your venues will be a walk in the park.
If you buy large paintings, you have to particularly keep the size of the abstract art pieces in mind. Paintings have to be able to have an effect on their environment. For this, you have to pay attention to the future surroundings of the painting. Things like the size of the room, the number and dimensions of the furniture and the colour of the walls should be taken into account. Another important factor is, of course, the free space on the wall that will be available to the painting. Too little free space or unfittingly coloured walls prevent the painting from displaying its features and the room quickly feels too loaded. The painting then seems rather obtrusive and will not be able to show off its beauty.
Properly putting the painting up on the wall
There are several different methods of presenting modern art. There are classical methods and completely unconventional variants. If you like to experiment, tend to redecorate often and love the extraordinary, an abstract painting that is just leant against the wall might be the right way to let your painting shine. Create an empty space on your wall. There should be no furniture around this free area, because for this unconventional and modern way of presenting your painting, it will stand on the ground and just lean against the wall and present its charm in a seemingly coincidental and random way. For this, it should be a large painting, in order for the painting to not be overseen while it is placed on the ground.
The classic spot on the wall: a hanging or standing painting
If you prefer to classically put up your painting on the wall, you have the choice between the standing and the hanging option. The latter, with the help of a nail or a screw, gives the painting a fixed place on the wall. However, if you are someone who likes to redecorate, the first option might be suitable for you, as you only have to fix a shelf on the wall on which you can put your painting. Consequently, even paintings that differ in size can be exchanged easily. You might have come across this method being used in a gallery.
A question of perspective
While putting up the painting on the wall, you should consider the perspective of the viewer, as it contributes immensely to the painting being shown to its fullest potential. Across from a sitting area, your painting should hang a bit lower, whereas a painting across from a door can be put up a bit higher. Just adapt the future position of the painting to the perspective from which you will most often see it. Additionally, you could also take the rest of the furniture that you see from that perspective into account in order to choose a fitting frame. This frame should suit the remaining furnishings, but especially the furniture which surrounds the painting. This way, your abstract paintings will be put in the limelight in the best possible way.
The proper maintenance of your paintings
Admiration for art also means properly taking care of the works of art. The right care of your paintings and a careful handling of them will guarantee that you will derive pleasure from them for a very long time. For the dusting of the painting, you should only use lint-free and anti-static feather dusters. Cloths are unsuited, because with too much pressure they could leave fibres or absorb the paint. Additionally, you should pay attention to your visitors, as some curious observers could forget their respect for handmade art and touch the object, leaving greasy traces or smudges. Naturally, both are harmful to your piece of art. Yet, with the help of a friendly reminder, your visitors will remember the safe handling of art.
A good atmosphere for humans and art
A constant room temperature of 13 to 22 degrees is optimal for your health, your furniture and, of course, for modern art. The humidity should be at 45 to 60 percent, and you should ensure that there are no heavy fluctuations, as the wooden frame could distort itself and stretch or shrink the canvas as a result. Consequently, the acrylic could peel off, crack or tear. You should also refrain from readjusting the wedges of the frame too often. Instead, pay attention to the room temperature and the humidity, and you will only have to adjust the frame's tension occasionally. Furthermore, dry air helps the acrylic paint to properly dry during the first few months.
In order to keep a good air supply at the painting's rear, a distance between the wall and the painting should be left. This can be done by slightly tilting a hanging painting forward. Standing paintings are already in a slightly tilted position which provides enough room for a sufficient air supply. However, you should definitely avoid the formation of dampness behind the canvas as this could lead to the creation of mould or bacteria cultures.
Do not use detergents or care products
If an accidental soiling of the painting should occur, refrain from using chemical stain-removers. Instead, use distilled water and a cotton pad to remove the stain by lightly dabbing it. Oil colours and properly dried acrylic colours are water-insoluble, which is why they will not react very sensitive to a dampened cotton pad. However, the use of detergents is not advisable because they were developed to remove grease. Your paintings would not easily forgive you a treatment with detergents.
Some shops offer care products for your paintings. Yet, those could do more harm than good if they are being used incorrectly. You are better off if, after about 10 years, you take your painting to a professional who can carry out a soft cleaning of it.
The history of the painting
The oldest known paintings are said to be the engraved cave paintings in the Grotte Chauvet in France which are supposedly 32,000 years old. Whereas oil and water colours where the preferred materials in the West, Eastern cultures relied on ink and colour ink. Until the 16th century, the term painting included every type of art that was created by painting, hence also depictions on coins or copperplate engravings. Furthermore, painting was not considered to be a form of art then.
The oldest traces of paintings
At the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, painting with oil colours was developed, changing the idea of a painting and the term itself. For a long time the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (born 1390 in Maaseik, deceased 1441 in Bruges) was said to be the first to use oil colours for his paintings. However, this is only partly true. Jan van Eyck was probably the first to use bleached and siccativated oils for painting, but oil paint systems had already been known well before then. In the Strasbourg manuscript, the oldest known Middle High German handbook for painting techniques, those systems are already described. The work, whose author is unknown, was written in the 15th century. The original manuscript was unfortunately destroyed during a fire in the Strasbourg library in 1870.
With oil colours towards the future
Nowadays, only transcripts remain of the Strasbourg manuscript, which lastingly shaped the arts. The term oil painting was derived from the oil paint whose main component was the binding agent oil. This method was a novelty in the arts. Painting with oil colours was not only new, innovative and quickly spreading, but it also changed the overall conceptions that were necessary for the creation of a painting, as oil permitted completely new painting techniques.
Oil painting as the supreme discipline of art
Painting with oil colours is ranked as one of the so-called supreme disciplines of art. This supreme discipline was used in the creation of portrait, genre or landscape paintings in the past, but paintings that contained other motifs were also painted with oil colours. Both the durability as well as the brilliance of the colours are unequalled in this painting technique.
Abstract art, modern art, realistic art: the oil painting genre creates large paintings
The appealing advantages of oil paint had an impact on the conception of paintings, which from then on were more and more seen as pieces of art. A work of art is first created by artistic work. The designation of an object or a painting as a work of art expresses a high amount of appreciation for this work. Colloquially, this term describes impressions that are deemed beautiful, yet it is irrelevant which segments they belong to.
The difference between painting and drawing
The distinction between the terms painting and drawing was also developed during the advent of oil painting. Painting mostly differs from drawing in the way in which the colours are applied. In contrast to a drawing, a painting's correct colour shade is achieved by mixing it before its application. Before the colours get in contact with the canvas, the right colour is mixed, while drawings get their colours by mixing the paints directly on the canvas. An exception are pastel paintings which should be called pastel drawings. However, in common parlance, both terms - painting and drawing - are used synonymously, which is, exactly speaking, wrong. Both methods create paintings, yet they are both completely different artistic genres.
The creation of art
During the creation of a painting, an artist has to have three components at his disposal. First, a picture carrier which is most often made from paper, canvas or wood. Second, a binding agent like bone glue or turpentine oil. Third, the right colourants are extremely important, which in the past had been produced from natural resources. Since the 19th century, those are produced industrially. Both the industrial production of colours as well as the cheap production of picture carriers revolutionised painting itself and the techniques of the artists. This, among other things, led to new artistic genres like Impressionism. While Impressionism is defined as an artistic genre of the modern era, modern paintings are characterised by the styles of Expressionism, Cubism, abstract art, Futurism, Surrealism and "New Objectivity".
Modern artists and their artistic genres
Apart from the different artistic genres, paintings are also named after their subjects. This, for example, leads to the term landscape painting, as its artists focus on painting landscapes. Portrait painting is another popular artistic genre which is characterised by the creation of human and animal portraits. Modern art and abstract paintings, however, do not fit into this classical division. They are not classified according to a specific subject and can therefore discuss just about anything. Famous artists of the modern era are Pierre-Auguste Renoir (born 25th February 1841 in Limoges; deceased 3rd December 1919 in Cagnes) and Edgar Degas (born 19th July 1834 in Paris; deceased 27th September in Paris); the Expressionist Henri Matisse (born 31st December 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambrésis; deceased 3rd November 1954 in Cimiez) or Pablo Ruiz Picasso, the founder of Cubist art (born 25th October 1881 in Málaga, deceased 8th April 1973 Moguins). The latter also created several paintings which nowadays belong to the most expensive paintings of the world, for example the paintings "Acrobat and Young Harlequin" (1905), "Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto" (1903) and "Sitting Woman in a Garden" (1938).
Contemporary artist Martin Klein and his work
In our shop you can also find unique and extraordinary works by contemporary artist Martin Klein. Do not pass up those works of art! Simply choose an object and put it into your product basket, which is then sent to you quickly and safely via a shipping company.
Martin Klein is a young sculptor and painter from Saxony. He gets his inspirations from several different artistic genres such as Cubism, Pop Art and also abstract and modern art. He carefully chooses multifaceted motifs for his art as well as an extraordinary and sometimes abstract style. Martin Klein is an innovative artist who, even though he is still young, can already look back on some great works of art. Among them are bronze figurines and fibre glass sculptures, but also artistic paintings which primarily have landscapes and female nudes as their motifs. His work can also be abstract and unconventional. You are welcome to get in contact with us if you want to purchase one of Martin Klein's works, or you can simply put the object of your choice in the product basket. Let yourself be inspired by our outstanding art!