The search for an original painting that resonates with your taste and transforms the room it's destined for can be a difficult and frustrating undertaking. How fortunate for us twenty-first century art lovers that we have the range and convenience of the Internet at our fingertips. You can visit more galleries in a single Sunday afternoon than your grandparents could in a year.

Original Paintings for Sale on the Web
It's fortunate, too, for the artists, whose work can reach an exponentially larger audience than ever before. Most of us, if we want to own an original painting, are not going to be able to buy a Mondrian or a Klee. We want to discover the artists who are not yet in the museums and textbooks. And the best place to find them is on the Web.

Of course, the quality of original paintings available from online galleries varies widely. Some are frankly tacky, designed to appeal to a low common denominator. And some, though individually hand-painted, still have an assembly-line feel. But imagine the excitement and satisfaction of discovering an artist you've never before heard of, and finding that his or her work speaks to your heart.

While I may have the greatest admiration for a masterwork that is distinguished by technical brilliance or conceptual originality, when it comes to art I'm going to live with, I turn to my heart rather than my brain or even my eyes. Does it stop me when I'm scanning painting after painting? Do I want to return to it again, no matter how often I've seen it? Am I constantly discovering nuances of texture, subject and mood? Then this is a painting I want to own.