The use of oil as a binder for paint dates back to the twelfth century in Northern Europe, and the vibrant, versatile material remains one of the most commonly used of artistic media today. Oil paint is made by mixing raw powdered pigment—derived from a variety of organic and non-organic sources—with a drying oil, usually linseed, resulting in a viscous, slow-drying emulsion. Depending on the ratio of pigment to oil, the color produced can range from opaque to transparent. For the earliest painters in oil, this presented a radical difference from the egg-based tempera paint that had previously been the most common. Oil paint allowed artists to create more subtle details than had been possible with saturated, quick-drying tempera: shimmering light and shadow, reflections on water, or the lustrous surfaces of silken fabrics. At the same time, oil paint has a sculptural quality and can be built up on the surface of a painting, an effect called impasto. Oil paint can be applied to a variety of supports, including wood panel, canvas, and metal. The paint is most often layered over a ground, such as gesso.

Oil paint has a few disadvantages. Colors tend to darken with time, due to chemical changes in both the oil and the pigment. Additionally, the paint layer has a tendency to form a fine network of cracks over time. In general, the positive properties of oil paint outweigh these negative factors. Oil paint is still used by many contemporary artists, including painters such as Gerhard Richter, Marlene Dumas, Frank Auerbach, John Currin, Chuck Close, and Susan Rothenberg.