The Best Oil Paints & Brands

The Best Oil Paints and Oil Paint Brands

A Guide To The Best Oil Paints

Before we get started discussing and outlining the best oil paints and the best oil paint brands, it is important to understand that every artist has their own unique wants and needs when painting in oils. Oil Paints are a pleasure to paint with and have many benefits over acrylics. Oil Paints dry more slowly than acrylics and water paints. This allows the artist a chance to revise the painting as it is worked on.

Oil Paints by nature are very durable and corrosion-resistant after drying up, provide for a wide range of colors and a rich color depth, as they can be layered and mixed more freely than other paints. They can be applied in many different ways, from thin glazes diluted with turpentine to dense thick impasto. Because it is slow to dry, artists can continue working the paint for much longer than other types of paint.

Artists have used oil paints for centuries! Many artistic masterpieces that have been created using the best oil paint, but it is also because they create luminous colors that are hardwearing, making them a good choice for creating new works of art so lets dive right in and enjoy the rich buttery feel of painting in oils and get to know some of the best oil paint brands today!

See below a list of Premium and Artist Grade Oil Paints that are sure to make your paintings come to life!

Premium Grade Oil Paints

Charvin Extra Fine Oil Paints

LUXURY THAT INSPIRES!

Charvin Extra Fine Oil Paint is one of the most unique oil colors in the world, top oil paint brands featuring an immense color line like no other. BONUS: with the amount colors in this line, you do not have to mix much to create colors potentially dulling down the paint. Charvin Extra Fine Oil Paints boast a 205-color palette available in 20ml, 60ml or 150ml tubes.

Accurately reflecting the hues of nature

Charvin Extra Fine Oil Colors span a naturally progressing color range from the subtlest shades to brilliant hues accurately reflecting the hues of nature making them ideal for Plein air painting.

  • Pigments: Highest grade pigments
  • Roller: Triple-milled for smoothness
  • Binder: Poppy and Linseed oil binder to prevent yellowing (which dries slower than linseed)
  • Lightfastness: Permanent and light-fast
  • Handmade Y/N: Yes, Small Batch, Handmade Paints, Made In France
  • Colors: 205 colors
  • Sizes: 20ml, 60ml and 150ml Tubes
  • Slogan: LUXURY THAT INSPIRES!
  • Rating: 4.8 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$$) Moderately priced. A luxury professional line at a super price point!

Williamsburg Handmade Oil Paints

Williamsburg Handmade Oil Paints

Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colors are used by the world’s finest artists, whose works can be found at the metropolitan Museum of Art and MOMA in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Beaubourg in Paris. So much of the quality of oil paint is in the grinding. Each color is ground to enhance the beauty and luminosity specific to that particular pigment.

  • Pigments: Incredibly pigment rich paint
  • Binder: Pure alkali-refined, ph balanced linseed oil
  • Lightfastness: Permanent and light-fast, Extensive Cobalt & Cadmium Colors
  • Handmade Y/N: Yes, made in batches no larger than 5 gallons at a times
  • Colors: 178 colors
  • Sizes: 37ml, 150ml Tubes, 237ml & 473ml Cans
  • Slogan: Handmade Master Quality Oil Paints
  • Rating: 4.9 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$$$) On The Higher Side. You Get What you Pay For!

Sennelier Extra Fine Artists’ Oil Colors

Sennelier Extra Fine Artists’ Oil Colors are still as smooth and luminous as ever, offer an updated texture with firmer body to accommodate the requirements of 21st century artists. Sennelier Artist’s Oils have been the standard of quality for over 100 years. Made from the extra-fine ground pigments and pure safflower oil, the colors have a unique non-glossy French satin finish that is more natural looking than other oils.

  • Pigments: Only the finest natural and inorganic pigments
  • Binder:  Non-Yellowing Safflower Oil
  • Lightfastness: Permanent and light-fast
  • Handmade Y/N: Yes, Exquisitely Handmade Oil Colors which date back to the days of the Old Masters
  • Colors: 145 colors
  • Sizes: 40ml, 200ml Tubes
  • Slogan: A New Generation of Oils
  • Rating: 4.8 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$$$) On The Higher Side. You Get What you Pay For!

Maimeri Puro Oil Colors

Maimeri Puro Professional Oil Colors & Sets

The product of outstanding technical achievement, Maimeri Puro Superior Oil Colors are the most advanced and yet the most traditional of oil colors. Restoring the outstanding simplicity and quality of original oil colors to paint formulas. Striving for simplicity and purity, putting years of technical experience to work. Made in Italy and one of the highest end oils you can buy. Unbelievable brilliance long with stable pigments which require no additives to produce a perfect impasto.

  • Pigments: Oil + Pure Pigment, Nothing Else, 30% more concentrated than other artists’ oils
  • Binder:  Using the best, non-yellowing safflower and poppy seed oils
  • Lightfastness: Maximum degree of lightfastness
  • Handmade Y/N: Yes, Oil + pigment and nothing else
  • Colors: 80 colors
  • Sizes: 40ml
  • Slogan: Absolutely Beautiful..Oil + Pure Pigment, Nothing Else!
  • Rating: 4.8 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$$$) On The Higher Side. You Get What you Pay For!

Old Holland Classic Oil Colors

Old Holland Classic Oil Paints

Old Holland Classic Oil Colors are still considered today as one of the top oil paints in the world! Boasting artists like Van Gogh, Vermeer, and other Dutch Masters that used their pigments and paints, Old Holland uses only pure, cold-pressed linseed oil as a binder with the highest possible pigment loads, creating brilliantly concentrated paints that provide exceptional covering power, strength of color, and color intensity. Given the covering power of the paint and minimum amount needed for color mixing.  One tube of their highest possible concentration of pigment equals the pigment contained in 2 to three tubes of other professional brands!

  • Pigments: Highest possible pigment loads
  • Binder:  Based on cold pressed linseed oil from the first pressing of the seeds 
  • Lightfastness: Maximum degree of lightfastness
  • Handmade Y/N: Yes, Made according to the recipes of Old Masters
  • Colors: 168 revolutionary colors
  • Sizes: 40ml, 125ml, 225ml tubes / 475ml Cans
  • Slogan: Considered One Of The Finest Oil Paints In The World!
  • Rating: 4.9 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$$$) On The Higher Side. You Get What you Pay For!

Other Higher End Premium Oil Paint Lines For Consideration


Artist & Professional Oils (also great for beginners!)

LUKAS 1862 Artist Oil Colors

LUKAS 1862 Professional Artist Oil Paints

Considered One Of The Worlds Favorite Artists’ Oil Colors!  LUKAS 1862 Artist Oil Colors are made in full pigment strength. With modern abilities to concentrate pigments, LUKAS has created colors with the intensity valued by master artists but without the need to work the paint before painting.  LUKAS oil colors are an incredibly smooth premium quality artist oil paint and colors created with the intensity valued by master artists! If you had to choose one oil paint, this one would be it! 77% of the colors are Series 1. One of the best oil paints for the money! Enjoy a palette of color based on those used by old masters with clean and lifelike mixing.

  • Pigments: Incomparable color intensity, highly pigmented
  • Binder:  Pharmaceutical grade, virgin cold-pressed linseed oil, non-yellowing sunflower oil, and a touch of beeswax
  • Lightfastness: Outstanding lightfastness
  • Handmade Y/N: No, Triple-mill process to produce this superb oil paint
  • Colors: 90-color spectrum, 77% of the colors are series 1
  • Sizes: 37ml & 200ml Tubes
  • Slogan: Incomparable Color Intensity! Finest Professional Artists’ Oil Colors Valued By The Masters!
  • Rating: 4.8 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$) Priced so well you can’t resist! Amazing price for a high quality artist oil paint

Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colors

Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Paints

Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colors are made from only the finest pigments. Winsor & Newton carefully formulates each tone for stability, tinting strength and coverage. Use them thickly with palette knives or brushes, or thin them to a very fine glaze. When milling oil color, each pigment must be treated as an individual, with every surface on each particle fully enveloped by fine oil—which is why Winsor & Newton researches, formulates, and mills each color individually. 99% of colors have a lightfast rating of AA or A providing permanence without compromising the choice of hue

  • Pigments: High pigment load, low oil absorption
  • Binder:  Refined linseed oil. Paint film is more flexible and yellows significantly less than traditional linseed oil
  • Lightfastness: Lightfast and Permanent
  • Handmade Y/N: No, made with fine art pigments and formulated to enhance each pigment’s natural characteristics
  • Colors: 125 Colors / 74 are single pigment colors
  • Sizes: 37ml and 200ml tubes
  • Slogan: It Takes Generations Of Experience To Make Color Like Winsor And Newton
  • Rating: 4.8 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$$) Average price range

Gamblin Artist’s Oil Color Paints

Gamblin Artist's Oil Color Paints & Sets

Gamblin has transformed oils and pigments into luscious, rich oil paints. Gamblin Artist’s Oil Colors have luscious working properties, and the colors are radiant. We’re sure you’ll agree that the quality of these oil colors is exquisite. For everything from realism to contemporary abstraction, you’ll find the colors you need in the Gamblin line.

  • Pigments: High pigment load, low oil absorption
  • Binder:  Refined linseed oil. Paint film is more flexible and yellows significantly less than traditional linseed oil
  • Lightfastness: Outstanding lightfastness
  • Handmade Y/N: No, Made in Portland OR, USA
  • Colors: 96 colors
  • Sizes: 37ml and 150ml tubes, plus 8 oz. and 16 oz. cans
  • Slogan: The Only Choice For Professionals!
  • Rating: 4.9 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$$) Average price range

Rembrandt Extra-Fine Artists’ Oil Paints

Rembrandt Extra Fine Artists' Oil Paints

Rembrandt Extra Fine Artists’ Oil Paints, the professional artists’ oil colors are lightfast, and all the colors are rated for 100 + years in museum conditions. They grind the pigments extra fine on a three-roll mill. That’s why Rembrandt paints have such a rich buttery feel. Extra Fine pigment grind, a rich buttery feel, high degree of lightfastness and incredible strong tinting strength make Rembrandt a choice among artists of all skill levels.

  • Pigments: Highest pigment load
  • Binder:  Linseed or safflower seed oil binder, Very pure and intense colors
  • Lightfastness: Lightfast and Permanent
  • Handmade Y/N: No, extra fine on a three-roll mill, Made in Holland
  • Colors: 120 Colors
  • Sizes: 40ml and 150ml tubes
  • Slogan: The Professional’s Choice – Pure And Intense Color
  • Rating: 4.9 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$$) Average price range

Charvin Fine Artists’ Oil Paints

Charvin Fine Artists' Oil Paints

Based on over 175 years of experience, Charvin fine artists’ oils use some of the oldest recipes still in use. These recipes are the same used to make oil colors for artists since 1830. Charvin has created a high quality elite oil paint at an extremely reasonable price point. Charvin Fine Oil Colors use a combination of the finest in traditional and modern pigments, bound with a blend of linseed and non-yellowing poppy oils, for a smooth, creamy consistency and vibrant color.

With a wide range of 140 balanced and luminous colors all available in generous 150 ml tubes, Charvin Fine Oil Colors are perfect for any application from glazing to alla prima, to still life, and abstract. The life like colors are especially suited to plein aire painting. 

  • Pigments: Highest pigment load
  • Binder:  Made primarily with poppy oil for a brilliance, richness and creaminess without comparison
  • Lightfastness: Highest quality and permanence
  • Handmade Y/N: No, expertly and slowly produce the oil color, Made In France
  • Colors: 140 Colors
  • Sizes: 150ml tubes
  • Slogan: Elite Artists’ Oils From The French Riviera. One Of The Most Honored And Time Tested Recipes For Oil Color Production
  • Rating: 4.9 (note: ratings are based on consumer reviews)
  • Price: ($$) Moderately priced but a truly a unique oil color

More Professional and Artist Oil Paint Lines For Consideration

Great color is vital for the success of the painter!

In the above guide, we set out to cover the Premium Higher End Quality Oil Paints, as well as Professional Oil Paints and Quality Artist Oils that have great values for your painting pleasure!

We recommend only using the best oil paints for your paintings, experience and outcome. Why use anything but the best? If price is a concern then there are many options listed above like LUKAS that offers amazing quality for the price.

There are many top oil paints and the best oil paint brands to choose from. Our curated list above is sure to help you when looking for the best oil paint to use for your next masterpiece.

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