Best Original Paintings of 2026

Correct, with one exception, and it sits on this list. Everything we sell is an original hand painted work except our fine art photography by Reza Daryakenari, sold as a signed limited edition print on Epson canvas with varnish. We label it clearly instead of blending it in with the paintings, so you always know which of the two you are buying.

This year's picks come from Nima Sayadian, Phaedra, Reza Daryakenari, Amir Fazelian, Roshan, Marjan Mousavi, Elmira Hokmabadi and Melina Ghaemi. Not every artist we carry is on it, and being left off says nothing about quality, only that we chose a small number of pieces. The list mixes oil, acrylic, mixed media and our one photography series.

The lowest priced pieces on this list are around $850, with the middle near $1,550. That is higher than the site as a whole, which starts around $72, because we chose ambitious and mostly larger works. If $850 is beyond your budget this year, several of these artists also have smaller, less expensive pieces in the general collections.

Because we judge the work, not the material. Solitude by Elmira Hokmabadi is built from acrylic, oil pastel and collage on canvas, and it earns its place by how it holds a room, the same test we apply to a straight oil painting. Restricting this list to one medium would tell you more about our filing habits than about the art.

No, it stays on the site permanently. We never delete a sold painting. The page moves into our sold archive at /collections/sold-archive and keeps its photographs, description and story, so you can still see what was chosen this year and study how that artist works. It also means the buyer's piece keeps a public record after the sale.

Mostly yes, every piece on this list needs a clear wall of some size. The works run from about 50 cm wide up to 150 cm, and from 70 cm to roughly 152 cm tall. For a narrow wall or a small room, pick from the lower end near 50 by 70 cm, or look at our smaller collections rather than forcing a large canvas into a tight space.

Best of 2026 is our running shortlist of the strongest original paintings in the gallery this year, chosen one work at a time by the person who handles every piece we ship. It exists to give first-time buyers a trusted starting point instead of an open-ended browse through the full gallery.

The list changes whenever a listed piece sells and whenever a new work earns a place, so there is no fixed schedule. Every painting is one of a kind, meaning a sold pick is gone for good rather than restocked. If something on the list stops you, that is the moment to act.

No, the list is chosen on strength, not price, and it spans the gallery's full range, which starts around $72. Some picks are small works on paper and some are large canvases. Being on the list changes nothing about a work's price; it only reflects our opinion of the piece.

No, and no honest gallery will promise that any painting appreciates in value. The list reflects our taste and our daily contact with the work, nothing more scientific than that. Buy a pick because you want to live with it, and treat any future value as a bonus, never the reason.

No, every pick ships exactly like everything else we sell: free, fully insured, and packed by hand in Vancouver, arriving in 3 to 7 business days within Canada and 5 to 10 in the USA. A Certificate of Authenticity comes with every piece, listed or not.

Ignore the list when you already know your taste. If you collect a specific palette, subject, or artist, browse those collections directly; the list is a starting tool, not a ranking that marks everything else as lesser. It is most useful when you feel overwhelmed, not when you feel certain.