Stephen Palmer

Stephen Palmer is a painter of landscape with a distinctive modern style. His broad, flat brushstrokes and dense blocks of colour boldly define his spaces while retaining a sense of fluidity. Much of his work is produced en plein air and is thus quickly executed, capturing the subtley of light, colour and forms before him. Stephen studied Fine Art at Bristol Polytechnic and is now based in South East London. He has exhibited at numerous private galleries and public exhibitions including the BP Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Festival Hall, the Southbank Centre and regularly at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and Hackwood Festival. Stephen has been selected seven times for The Discerning Eye exhibition in London, most recently in 2015, and in 2011 his painting Shooter's Hill, Blackheath was selected by Brian Sewell to win the Betty Hicks prize. He also paints and exhibits in France and won first prizes at the Journee des Peintres at La Flotte-en-Re (2006) and at Loix-en-Re (2008). In November 2015 Stephen had his first solo exhibition at Jenna Burlingham Fine Art.

Painting is an art form that has spanned innumerable cultures, with artists using the medium to tell stories, explore and communicate ideas and express themselves. To bring abstract paintings, landscape paintings, still-life paintings and other original paintings into your home is to celebrate and share in the long tradition of this discipline.

When we look at paintings, particularly those that originated in the past, we learn about history, other cultures and countries of the world. Like every other work of art, paintings — whether they are contemporary creations or works that were made during the 19th century — can often help us clearly see and understand the world around us in a meaningful and interesting way.

Cave walls were the canvases for what were arguably the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict natural scenery through art. Portrait paintings and drawings, which, along with sculpture, were how someone’s appearance was recorded prior to the advent of photography, are at least as old as Ancient Egypt. In the Netherlands, landscapes were a major theme for painters as early as the 1500s. Later, artists in Greece, Rome and elsewhere created vast wall paintings to decorate stately homes, churches and tombs.

Today, creating a wall of art is a wonderful way to enhance your space, showcase beautiful pieces and tie an interior design together.

No matter your preference, whether you favor Post-Impressionist paintings, animal paintings, Surrealism, Pop art or another movement or specific period, arranging art on a blank wall allows you to evoke emotions in a room while also showing off your tastes and interests. A symmetrical wall arrangement may comprise a grid of four to six pieces or, for an odd number of works, a horizontal row. Asymmetrical arrangements, which may be small clusters of art or large, salon-style gallery walls, have a more collected and eclectic feel.

Download the 1stDibs app, which includes a handy “View on Wall” feature that allows you to see how a particular artwork will look on a particular wall, and read about how to arrange wall art. And if you’re searching for the perfect palette for your interior design project, what better place to turn than to the art world’s masters of color? 

On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive collection of paintings and other fine art for your home or office. Browse abstract paintings, portrait paintings, paintings by emerging artists and more today.