Erotic art for sale: original oil paintings, painted by hand

What this is

The art trade has a settled name for this work, and using it is more honest than working around it. Artfinder files it under nudes and erotic. Saatchi Art lists it as nude, erotic, figurative. Auction houses have used fine art nude painting for well over a century.

So: this is erotic art, and it is filed under nude and erotic. Figurative oil portraits of women, painted from photographs — suggestive rather than explicit, and closer to a top or a strap than to anything that needs a warning. What that category means, and how it differs from the three terms next to it, has a page of its own.

The subjects are fourteen named women who make a living from their own image. Each painting starts from a photograph she published herself, carries her first name in the title, and credits the source. That is a feature of the series rather than a disclaimer, and it is why the work is called Painted Idols. They each have a page at the women in Painted Idols, and four of the canvases are of the same woman — what that repetition shows is the subject of painting Riae four times.

Where to start

Four routes in, depending on what you came for.

• You want to see the contemporary erotic art itself. The twenty-three originals — the series Painted Idols, oil on canvas, one of each.
• You want something at print prices. The nine signed prints, €35, signed on the back and never reprinted.
• You are not sure this is for you yet. Three pieces that answer the questions people usually have before they buy: is it erotic art or pornography, who actually buys erotic art, and where to hang a nude painting.
• You want your own photograph painted. Commissions, including what it costs.

Never bought original art before? Buying your first original painting covers what arrives, what the certificate is for, and the five questions you are allowed to ask any artist. And if you like several and cannot choose, start with the wall rather than the picture.

Everything else — buying, framing, hanging, shipping, living with the work — is collected in Notes from the studio.

Questions people ask

Where can I buy original erotic art online?

Directly from a studio that made the work, rather than from a shopfront that lists images. This studio sells twenty-three original erotic oil paintings and nine hand-signed prints, painted in Boekel in the Netherlands and shipped insured worldwide. The tell of a print farm is the same image offered in a dozen sizes.

What counts as erotic art?

Work in which desire is part of the subject rather than incidental to it. It is a category of subject matter, like landscape or portraiture, and it says nothing about how explicit a given work is. The art trade files it under nude and erotic.

Who are the women in the paintings?

Fourteen named women, each of whom makes a living from her own image. The painting begins with a photograph she published herself, and the finished canvas carries her first name and credits the source. The painter informs them; most know, not everyone has responded.

Is the packaging discreet?

Yes. The box carries a sticker with the studio name, Paintings by Willem van der Krieken, and nothing on the outside indicates what is inside or which painting it is. Anyone handling it learns that you bought something from a painter, not what you bought.

Is it legal to buy and hang erotic art at home?

Buying and owning original artwork depicting adults is legal in the Netherlands and across the EU, and these paintings are shipped worldwide. Import rules vary by country and are the buyer’s responsibility, so if you are ordering from outside the EU it is worth a check before you order.