Paintings by Belgian artists: how to choose and buy an original canvas

01Painting, canvas, paint: what we mean

Contemporary Belgian painting is, first of all, artists who paint today, near you, and sell their work directly. Before you buy a canvas painting, three words worth telling apart.

• The canvas is the support: linen or cotton, stretched over a wooden frame called the stretcher.
• The painting is the finished work, whatever the support: wood, paper or canvas.
• The paint is the material and the technique: oil, acrylic, watercolour. It decides how the work looks and how you care for it.

02An original painting is not a “canvas print”

Search “cheap canvas” and you land on prints: an image out of a printer, stretched on a frame, sometimes varnished in relief to mimic brushstrokes. It isn’t a scam, it’s decoration. But it isn’t a painting.

• The same image comes in several sizes. An original comes in one.
• The surface is perfectly flat. A painting has relief, and raking light shows it at once.
• The words: “canvas print”, “wall art”, “ready to hang”. An artist talks about a canvas, not a product.
• The signature is part of the image, not laid on top of it.

A numbered edition, signed by hand by its author, is something else: a photograph or a print in a limited run, where you are told how many copies exist. A work in its own right.

03Oil, acrylic, watercolour: what it changes for you

The technique says nothing about quality. It tells you what you’ll see, how to keep the work looking good, and whether it goes behind glass.

• Oil: deep colours, body, often thick layers. It dries slowly, and a canvas fresh from the studio may still smell of oil. A varnish protects it, no glass needed.
• Acrylic: dries fast, stays flexible, holds its colour. No glass either.
• Watercolour, ink, gouache, pastel, charcoal: works on paper. They hate direct light and damp, and they go behind glass, with a mount.
• Mixed media: collage, added materials, pastel over acrylic. Ask the artist how the work is fixed and how to look after it.

For all of them: no direct sun, no radiator, a dry cloth for dust, never water.

04Sizes, and where they go

A size is given in centimetres, height then width, without the frame unless stated.

• Small: what you hold in two hands. A hallway, a corridor, a shelf, or several together on one wall.
• Medium, like 60 × 80 cm: above a sideboard, a desk, in a bedroom. It lies flat in a car.
• Large: a wall of its own, above the sofa or the bed. Plan the trip: a large canvas doesn’t fit in every car.

For the right size and hanging height, see the guide on decorating your home, at the bottom of this page.

05Reading a listing

A good listing answers all of this without you asking.

• The dimensions, and whether the frame is included.
• The technique and the support: oil on canvas, acrylic on wood.
• The year, because it places the canvas in the artist’s journey.
• One-off piece or numbered edition. For an edition, the number and the total run are part of what you buy.
• The photos: straight on, a close-up for the texture, one with an object for scale.
• The seller’s badge: private seller or professional. Your rights depend on it.

From a professional, you have 14 days to withdraw from a distance purchase, plus the legal guarantee of conformity. Between private individuals, that right doesn’t apply.

06What an original painting costs, and why

There’s no “normal” price, there are factors.

• The size. Many artists add height and width in centimetres and multiply by their own coefficient, often between 2 and 5 when starting out. A 60 × 80 cm canvas then lands between €280 and €700. A rule of thumb, not a rule: it comes from what artists say about their prices, not from a study.
• The track record. The coefficient rises with what the artist has already sold, not with the hours spent on the canvas.
• The technique and materials: oil on linen costs more to make than acrylic on board.
• The frame, if it’s included in the price.
• The door the canvas leaves by. A gallery often keeps half the price. An artist who shows there keeps the same price everywhere, as a rule: buying direct does not cost less, but the price goes to them in full.

Sold directly, the artist keeps the whole price. On arvel that’s the rule: 0% commission for the artist, and the price you see is the price you pay. The platform earns on the client’s side, inside that price.

07See the painting for real before you pay

No screen renders texture, a thick layer of paint or a varnish. That’s why we meet: on arvel, art doesn’t travel, the artist hands the work over to you in person, in a public place during the day or at their studio.

On the spot, five minutes are enough:

• The size, tape measure in hand.
• The colours, in daylight. A photo taken under a yellow lamp lies a lot.
• The edges, the corners, the stretcher at the back, the varnish.
• The signature and the date. Ask for a certificate, even handwritten: name, title, date, dimensions, technique.

The money doesn’t move until you’ve seen the canvas: when you reserve, the sum leaves your account but is held. You confirm the handover, and that is what releases it to the artist. If the work doesn’t match the listing, you don’t confirm, and you’re refunded.

arvel isn’t open yet: not a single canvas is for sale today. The site lets you take your place on the waiting list, nothing more.