Why the right category sells your painting
September 10, 2026 · 2 min read · Geza Lakatos & Szidonia Bandi
Collectors rarely search for “a painting”. They search for abstract works in blue, for figurative portraits, for small landscapes for a hallway. If your work is filed in the wrong place, the people who would love it simply never find it.
Three questions define where a work belongs
Medium: what is it made of — oil, acrylic, watercolour, ink, mixed media? Style: how is it made — figurative, abstract, expressionist, minimalist, surreal? Subject: what does it show — landscape, portrait, still life, the city, the body?
Most online platforms, galleries and buyers think in exactly these three dimensions. Answering them precisely is not paperwork. It is how you get found.
Artists often place themselves wrongly
It happens all the time: an artist calls a clearly figurative work abstract because it feels more modern, or tags everything as “contemporary” because it fits everything. The result is the same — the work lands among people who are looking for something else.
It helps to ask someone who looks from the outside. What do they see first: a recognisable subject, or colour and form?
A style is also a signature
Collectors who like one work usually ask the same question: do you have more of this? An artist who keeps a recognisable style makes that answer easy — and builds value with every new piece. That is why we accept artists who show at least three works in the same style.
What you can do today
Take your last five works and write medium, style and subject next to each. If the style changes from work to work, choose the direction you want to be known for — and show that one first.
The right place brings the right people.
Want this for your work?
We are selecting our first artists now. Free to apply · at least three works in the same style · reviewed within 3 days.
Apply as an artist