The Ninth Salon Journal · By Sophie, founder · Published 20 August 2026
A custom portrait costs anywhere from a few euros to several thousand dollars in 2026, depending on who holds the brush. That range is so wide that the question deserves a real answer, price by price, including the option that is ours (we will say so when we get to it).
A professional portrait painter working in oil typically charges from several hundred dollars for a small head-and-shoulders piece to several thousand for a large or multi-figure canvas; established names charge far more. Timelines run from weeks to months, and you approve sketches along the way. This is the real thing: a human eye interpreting a human face, brushstrokes with actual texture. If the budget and the occasion justify it, nothing replaces it.
Illustrators on commission platforms will draw or paint a portrait digitally, usually delivered as a file within one to three weeks. Enormous range of styles and of reliability: the portfolio is your only contract, so read reviews and ask what the revision policy is. You print it yourself.
The newest tier, and the one where we live. Tools like Ninth Salon (ours) turn a photo into a classical oil portrait in about a minute: Renaissance, Dutch Golden Age, Baroque, Belle Époque. The honest trade-off is choice, not quality: you pick a style rather than art-directing every detail, and each generation is unique. The honest advantages are speed, price, and the fact that you see the finished portrait before deciding it is worth anything. Printed on canvas, delivered ready to hang, it lands well under a hundred euros including shipping.
Filter apps drape a painting texture over your photo. As we explain in our guide to turning a photo into a painting, a filter does not repaint light, fabric or background, so the result reads as a processed photo, not a painting. Fine for an avatar, weak as a gift.
Whatever the tier, ask the same four things before paying. Will the face actually resemble the person? What exactly do you receive, file, print, or both? Who owns the rights afterwards? And what happens to your photo? Any serious option, at any price, answers all four in writing.