Somber Portrait Painters
Sadness, melancholy and gloom have found an outlet in artists throughout history and in the depiction of figurative art. Through artists, humanity and their emotional and physical states are portrayed to be viewed and related to. The instant recognition of such a grave subject also plagues human history itself, thus carving out its own rightful spot amongst the history of art movements. In Edgar Degas' 1875 painting L'Absinthe, where viewers see a portrait of a young woman solemnly contemplating her situation, disengaged from their gaze, her surroundings, maybe even from herself.
Dark hues and colors define somber portrait painting and can highlight the cause of such sadness, whether that be the subject's emotional state or a greater rendering of the world's expanse and the human existence within it. Existential or not, the traits of somber artwork can be found in our own collection of portraits on Artsper. The portraiture work of Nicolas Fropo de Habart works the body in all its dimensions to create an absolute feeling of vastness while Antoine Stevens also depicts wandering souls in his dimmed portraiture. But given the nature of humanity, somber depictions of the figure are not entirely unexpected…
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La nuit mystérieuse jaune
Lisbeth Buonanno
Painting - 130 x 89 x 2 cm Painting - 51.2 x 35 x 0.8 inch
$4,769
Fanfare de la mer
Lisbeth Buonanno
Painting - 100 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 39.4 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$3,576
Home style cooking
Lisbeth Buonanno
Painting - 89 x 146 x 2 cm Painting - 35 x 57.5 x 0.8 inch
$3,815
Conflict
Mino Maccari
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 29 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 11.4 x 0.1 inch
$477
Tancament XXVII. Túnica
Teresa Riba
Sculpture - 49 x 13 x 10 cm Sculpture - 19.3 x 5.1 x 3.9 inch
$4,292
Portrait of Woman
François Chapuis
Fine Art Drawings - 55 x 39 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 21.7 x 15.4 x 0.1 inch
$1,907
Portrait
François Chapuis
Fine Art Drawings - 48 x 32.5 x 0.2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 18.9 x 12.8 x 0.1 inch
$2,623
Portrait of Woman
François Chapuis
Fine Art Drawings - 50.8 x 40.8 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 20 x 16.1 x 0 inch
$2,623
Tu es toujours dans mes pensées
Lisbeth Buonanno
Painting - 15 x 10 x 0.1 cm Painting - 5.9 x 3.9 x 0 inch
$358
Des étoiles pour toi
Lisbeth Buonanno
Painting - 15 x 10 x 0.1 cm Painting - 5.9 x 3.9 x 0 inch
$358
Landscape with Figures
Eugene Berman
Fine Art Drawings - 45 x 32 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 17.7 x 12.6 x 0 inch
$2,384
Three Horsemen
Mino Maccari
Fine Art Drawings - 28.8 x 20.8 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 11.3 x 8.2 x 0 inch
$572
Simone Veil
Hom Nguyen
Fine Art Drawings - 80 x 60 x 2 cm Fine Art Drawings - 31.5 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch
$15,378
Smoking Man
Mino Maccari
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 28.5 x 0.1 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 11.2 x 0 inch
$453
Le printemps dans l'air
Cécile Desserle
Painting - 81 x 100 x 2 cm Painting - 31.9 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch
$3,934
At School
Mino Maccari
Fine Art Drawings - 18 x 25 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.1 x 9.8 x 0.1 inch
$584
The Figure
Mino Maccari
Fine Art Drawings - 24 x 17 x 0.3 cm Fine Art Drawings - 9.4 x 6.7 x 0.1 inch
$584
![Painting, [Screenshot], Dylan Cram](https://media.artsper.com/artwork/2241648_1_grid.jpg)
Personnage au discours fumeux
Georges Bru
Fine Art Drawings - 19 x 24 cm Fine Art Drawings - 7.5 x 9.4 inch
$1,490
Happy birthday Mr. President
Lisbeth Buonanno
Painting - 18 x 15 x 0.1 cm Painting - 7.1 x 5.9 x 0 inch
$358
Personnage avec cartouche
Georges Bru
Fine Art Drawings - 21 x 16 cm Fine Art Drawings - 8.3 x 6.3 inch
$1,407
Personnage à l'air froissé
Georges Bru
Fine Art Drawings - 15 x 20 x 0.5 cm Fine Art Drawings - 5.9 x 7.9 x 0.2 inch
$1,252