12 Best Oil Portrait Artists in India (2026)
Oil portrait painting is not a hobby. It is a discipline that demands years of deliberate practice, a serious understanding of light and human anatomy, and the kind of patience that very few people possess. India has always produced exceptional portrait painters — from the court artists of the Mughal era to Raja Ravi Varma, whose figurative work defined an entire era of Indian art.
That tradition is very much alive today. In studios and home workshops from Delhi to Bengaluru, Pune to Manipur, artists are creating handmade portraits that will be displayed, talked about, and passed down. This is a guide to twelve of them — each one someone whose work we know well, and whose portraits are available to commission.
Whether you are looking for a custom oil painting portrait from a photo, a charcoal study, or something in coloured pencil — most of the artists here work across multiple mediums. We have been connecting portrait artists with clients across India and around the world since 2016. If you are not sure where to start, that is what we are here for.
The 12 Best Oil Portrait Artists in India
These are twelve artists whose work we know well and whose portraits speak for themselves. Each entry includes what they are best at, so you can find the right fit for your commission.
1. Aashi Jain — Oil Portrait Artist, Delhi
Delhi · Oil Portraits, Live Wedding Paintings, Art Education
A Fine Arts graduate of the College of Art, Delhi — one of India's most respected fine arts institutions — Aashi has spent well over a decade honing a practice that demands more than talent. She has completed over a thousand realistic portraits to date, a number that speaks not just to quantity but to the depth of daily practice behind the work.
Her forte is photorealistic portraiture — oil on canvas where skin tones, light, and expression are rendered with an almost unsettling fidelity. She is one of the finest oil portrait artists in Delhi, and also one of the few who does live wedding painting anywhere in India, which is an entirely different skill that she handles with equal confidence.
Beyond commissions, she trains aspiring artists. That teaching background shows in how she approaches a client brief — she asks the right questions, understands the emotional weight behind the commission, and delivers accordingly.
2. Arijit Das — Portrait Artist, West Bengal
West Bengal · Charcoal Portraits, Pencil Portraits, Full-Spectrum Portrait Media
Art chose Arijit Das before he chose it. Growing up in Bengal, he learned to draw at his father's side — absorbing technique and instinct through years of watching, imitating, and eventually finding his own voice. He is a full-time art teacher, but his real passion is portraits, and he brings the same rigour to a commission as he does to teaching.
Calling him a pencil artist undersells him significantly. He is equally comfortable with charcoal powder and sticks, coloured pencils, graphite, and paint on canvas. His charcoal-based portraits have a tonal richness that could easily be mistaken for oil — built through layering and control rather than any shortcut. For clients who want the depth and warmth of an oil painting but in a medium that translates particularly well to black and white, Arijit's charcoal and graphite work is worth a serious look.
His range spans mood as well as medium. A festive wedding portrait bursting with colour and warmth, or a quiet monochrome study of deep intensity — he calibrates to what the moment calls for, which is rare.
3. Koushik Mondal — The Colour Architect, West Bengal
West Bengal · Vibrant Multi-Media Portraits, Unconventional Colour Palettes
Some artists follow the rules of colour theory. Koushik rewrites them. He started sketching at the age of four and has never really stopped — decades of daily practice have given him a speed and fluency that is almost unsettling to watch. He holds an informal record of completing 108 hand-drawn pencil portraits in just ten days, without any visible drop in quality.
But speed is not what defines him. Colour is. Koushik reaches for pigments that no conventional portrait painter would choose — unexpected purples in hair, warm accents in shadow areas that should, in theory, break the harmony of a face but instead make it sing. Looking at his work, you cannot immediately explain why it works. You just know that it does.
He is ideal for clients who want a portrait that commands a room rather than merely occupies it. If you are commissioning a portrait as a gift and want it to be genuinely unforgettable, he belongs on your shortlist.
4. Shruti Kulkarni — Photorealist Oil Portrait Artist, Pune
Pune, Maharashtra · Photorealistic Oil Portraits, Family Portraits on Canvas
There is a particular kind of portrait that stops you mid-sentence — where you genuinely have to lean in to confirm that what you are looking at is paint, not a photograph. Shruti Kulkarni makes those portraits. A civil engineer by training and a self-taught artist by calling, she made the leap to oil on canvas in 2015 and has spent every year since mastering the transition.
What she brings to oil portraiture is an engineer's precision married to an artist's sensitivity. Her understanding of colour layering is meticulous — she knows exactly which warm and cool tones to build up to make skin look like skin rather than pigment. She has described painting as her state of flow, a form of deep meditation, and that stillness is visible on the surface of her work.
Her family portrait commissions are particularly sought after. She handles the technical challenge of compositing people from multiple reference photographs into one cohesive canvas without the result ever looking assembled — which, if you have tried to do this yourself, you will know is harder than it sounds.
5. Surabhi Gulwelkar — The Academic Realist, Pune
Pune, Maharashtra · Classical Oil Portraiture, Figure Painting, Pastel Portraits
When formal academic training and real artistic ambition meet, the results are exceptional. Surabhi earned her MFA in Portraiture from Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai — first rank, distinction — and received a scholarship to study at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy in 2017, one of the world's most rigorous classical atelier programmes.
She currently teaches at DY Patil College of Applied Arts and is a Brand Educator for Winsor & Newton oil colours. Her work sits in the tradition of European academic realism — disciplined, luminous, and attentive to the full tonal range from deepest shadow to brightest highlight. You can see the understanding of glazing, of building form through value, of allowing paint to carry weight.
Commissioning her means commissioning someone with a rare combination of institutional pedigree, international exposure, and ongoing professional practice. She ships internationally and has won recognition at the Boldbrush Competition and from the Bombay Art Society.
6. Lavanya Siddeshwar — Realistic Portrait Artist, Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Karnataka · Hyperrealistic Coloured Pencil, Graphite, Charcoal Portraits
Art has a way of returning to those who are truly called to it. Lavanya started drawing as a child, set it aside through years of formal education and a conventional career, and then — inevitably — came back. She began practising hyperrealistic portraiture in 2018 and has not looked back since.
Now one of Bengaluru's most recognised portrait artists, she works primarily in coloured pencil — a medium that many artists underestimate but which, in skilled hands, produces portraits of extraordinary warmth and detail. Her understanding of skin tones through layering is particularly impressive, producing portraits that feel lit from within rather than simply tinted.
Beyond commissions, she has built a community of over 55,000 followers and trained more than 4,000 art learners globally through workshops and online courses. That teaching instinct also makes her excellent to work with as a client — she explains the process clearly and is meticulous about approval at every stage.
7. Shaily Verma — Portrait & Abstract Artist, Delhi NCR
Delhi NCR · Family Portraits, Abstract Spiritual Paintings, Mixed Media
Shaily has built something rare in the Indian art world — a career simultaneously rooted in traditional portraiture and genuinely expansive in creative range. Holder of a fine arts diploma and founder of Shail Art Gallery and Classes, she has created over 4,000 paintings since 2010. Her work has been exhibited at the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society in Delhi.
She is known for two distinct bodies of work. First, emotionally warm family portrait commissions — faithful, detailed, and ideal as heirloom gifts for weddings, anniversaries, and milestones. Second, bold abstract spiritual paintings that carry a completely different energy. The ability to work fluently across both registers is uncommon and speaks to the breadth of her foundation.
She ships worldwide, making her an excellent option for the Indian diaspora in the US, UK, and UAE who want to commission meaningful artwork from a home-country artist.
8. Khushi Thakur — Fine-Detail Portrait Artist, Pune
Pune, Maharashtra · Graphite, Charcoal, Coloured Pencil Portraits
There is a meditative quality to Khushi's work that is apparent before you notice the technical precision. Based in Pune, she works in graphite, charcoal, and coloured pencil — building tone through careful layering rather than forcing expression, giving her portraits a quiet authority that rewards close looking.
The more you examine her work, the more detail emerges. Her large-format graphite and charcoal portraits are particularly striking — the tonal gradations that define a face in good natural light are reproduced with a subtlety that very few artists manage. She ships worldwide.
9. Yaminii — Expressive Portrait Artist, India
India (ships worldwide) · Illustrative & Expressive Portraiture
Yaminii is one of those quietly prolific artists whose following has grown through consistency and a genuine warmth in her work. With over 20,000 followers built through her Adore Artistry platform, she brings creative flexibility that is hard to find in a single artist — spanning portrait illustration, more stylised interpretations, and realistic renderings.
Her commissioned portrait work skews toward vibrant, expressive results rather than strict photorealism — the kind of portrait that captures how someone feels in a photograph rather than just how they look. Ideal for clients who want personality-forward commissions, and for gifting to younger audiences who want something with energy and warmth. Ships internationally.
10. Rishikanta Nameirakpam — Portrait Artist, Manipur
Manipur, Northeast India · Portrait Art, Mixed Media
From Northeast India — a region rich with artistic heritage that rarely gets the national spotlight it deserves — Rishikanta brings a distinctive sensibility to figurative art. His portraits reflect both technical grounding and a personal visual language shaped by Manipur's extraordinary culture and landscape.
His inclusion here is also a deliberate reminder that India's portrait art scene extends well beyond the metropolitan centres of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. Talent is distributed across the country. Some of the most interesting contemporary portrait work is coming from exactly these regions, and it is worth seeking out.
11. Animesh Halder — Live Event & Plein Air Artist, India
Pan-India (live events) · Live Wedding Painting, Plein Air, On-the-Spot Portraits
Live painting at a wedding or corporate event is a completely different skill from studio portraiture. It demands speed, confidence, the ability to simplify without losing likeness, and the composure to perform under real-time pressure with an audience watching. Animesh Halder has done this at over 100 live events across India, and his 2026 calendar is already heavily booked.
His finished live paintings are routinely mistaken for studio works — which is testament to how effectively he manages the constraints of the format. If you are planning a wedding and want something extraordinary happening in the room, this is it.
12. Kamalendu — Watercolour Portrait Artist, India
India · Watercolour Portraits, Figurative Painting
Watercolour is the most unforgiving of portrait media. There is no erasing, no overpainting, no margin for serious error. It demands a painter who understands exactly what they are doing before brush touches paper — because unlike oil, you cannot build back what has been lost.
Kamalendu is one of a small group of Indian artists who have mastered the medium at the level of portraiture. His work is simultaneously delicate and confident, with the luminosity that only properly handled watercolour achieves. For clients who want something other than the conventional oil or charcoal commission, his portraits occupy a distinct aesthetic niche — softer, more ethereal, and genuinely beautiful.
Why a Handmade Portrait? Why Now?
We live in an age of instant photographs and AI-generated images. Paradoxically, that saturation has made the handmade more valuable, not less. A hand-painted portrait is the opposite of instant — it is deliberate, physical, and irreplaceable in a way that nothing digital can replicate.
Oil paint, when properly applied and cared for, can last centuries. The portraits of Mughal emperors, the masterworks of Raja Ravi Varma, the great family commissions of the Victorian era — all survived because oil on canvas, handled well, is extraordinarily durable. When you commission a custom oil painting portrait, you are making something that could outlast everything else in your home.
The twelve artists listed here represent the full spectrum of what Indian portrait art looks like today. Whatever you are looking for — a realistic oil painting, a charcoal study, a watercolour, or a live painting at your event — there is an artist on this list who can make it for you. And if you are not sure which one, that is exactly what we are here for.
Finding an Oil Portrait Artist in India — Near You or Anywhere
Delhi and the NCR benefit from artists trained at institutions like the College of Art, Delhi. Mumbai and Pune are home to artists with Sir JJ School of Art pedigrees and international exposure. Bengaluru has a thriving contemporary art scene. Kolkata and West Bengal have a long tradition of figurative painting — several artists in this list call Bengal home.
But your location does not limit your options. Every artist we work with can create from a high-resolution photograph delivered digitally. Once complete, the painting ships safely to your door — framed or rolled — whether you are in Mumbai, Melbourne, or Manhattan.
Many NRI clients commission portraits in India and have them delivered to their address abroad, or send one as a meaningful gift to family back home. We have been handling exactly these kinds of commissions since 2016, for over 10,000 clients across India and around the world. If you have been thinking about commissioning something — a custom oil portrait, a family painting, a gift for an anniversary — this is the right place to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a custom oil portrait cost in India?
Custom oil portraits typically range from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 50,000+ depending on canvas size, the number of subjects, background complexity, and the artist. A single-person portrait on rolled canvas starts at Rs. 5,000. A standard couple portrait on a mid-size canvas with a simple background typically falls in the Rs. 8,000 to 12,000 range. Contact Shashank at +916201162515 for a quote based on exactly what you have in mind — no commitment, no jargon.
How long does a hand-painted oil portrait take to complete?
A standard oil portrait takes 7 to 14 working days to paint, plus 2 to 3 days drying time before safe packaging, plus 3 to 5 days for shipping across India. Total from order to delivery is roughly 2 to 3 weeks. If you have a hard deadline — a wedding, an anniversary — tell us upfront and we will be straight with you about what is achievable.
Can I commission an oil portrait from outside India?
Yes. We ship to the US, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Singapore, and more. Many NRI clients commission portraits in India and have them delivered to their address abroad, or send them as gifts to family back home. International paintings are rolled and shipped in protective tubes to keep costs reasonable and ensure safe transit. We have been handling international commissions since 2016.
Which city in India has the best oil portrait artists?
Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Bengaluru are home to many of India's finest portrait artists owing to strong fine arts institutions in each city. But talent extends well beyond these metros — artists from West Bengal, Manipur, and other regions produce outstanding work. With a nationwide network, geography is not a constraint. We match you with the right artist regardless of where either of you is based.
What photo should I share for a portrait commission?
Clear, well-lit, and high-resolution. The face should be fully visible and in focus. Natural light works better than flash or harsh indoor lighting. Avoid heavily filtered or backlit photos. If you are combining multiple people from different photographs into one composition — which we handle regularly — make sure the lighting is roughly consistent across all source images. When in doubt, share two or three options and we will tell you which gives the best result.
Can portraits be made from old or damaged photographs?
Yes — and honestly, some of the most meaningful commissions we have handled started with an old, faded, or damaged photo of someone who has passed. Our artists can work from black-and-white originals, low-resolution scans, or slightly damaged prints. In some cases, multiple photographs can be combined to reconstruct a portrait. Share what you have and we will advise honestly on what is possible.
Is a handmade portrait a good wedding or anniversary gift?
One of the best. Most of the portrait orders we handle are gifts — parents' anniversaries, wedding commissions, housewarming surprises. A painting is physical, permanent, and personal in a way that almost nothing else is. It gets displayed, talked about, and kept for decades. Plan at least 3 weeks ahead of the occasion. You can also browse our wedding gifts collection for more ideas across different art styles.
What sizes are available for oil portrait commissions?
We offer everything from 6x6 inch miniatures to large 36x24 inch portraits and beyond, including life-size commissions. For a single person, A3 (16x12 inches) is a solid starting point. For couples, 20x16 to 24x18 inches gives each face proper space and detail. Families of three or more benefit from 30x24 inches or larger. Tell us where you plan to hang it and we will recommend the right dimensions.
Ready to Commission?
Nearly a decade in, 10,000+ clients served, and a network of artists across India who are genuinely among the finest in the country at what they do. That is what we bring to a portrait commission. We know these artists — their strengths, their timelines, their sweet spots — and we brief them well.
If you know what you want, get in touch here and we will get started. If you are not sure yet, that is fine. Tell us the occasion, the budget, and a rough idea of the style, and we will guide you from there. No pressure, no jargon.