peinture à l'huile
/pɛ̃.tyʁ a l‿ɥil/
The French for oil painting is peinture à l'huile.
Use peinture à l'huile both for the technique of painting with oils and for a finished picture made that way.
Meaning: a painting done with oil paints (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
peinture means painting, à means with or using, l' means the and huile means oil.
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase is feminine, so any adjective that describes it takes its feminine form.
How do you pronounce it?
In IPA it is written /pɛ̃.tyʁ a l‿ɥil/, with the l of l' linked straight onto huile.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not use de in place of à. peinture de l'huile would mean a painting of oil, while peinture à l'huile is the correct way to name a painting made with oil.
Did you know?
- The preposition à in peinture à l'huile works the same way as when describing a flavor, such as glace à la vanille for 'vanilla ice cream'.
- In French museums, you will often see the phrase huile sur toile instead of peinture à l'huile, which specifies that the oil is on canvas.
- The word huile is used identically for a fine art medium and for the oil used in a frying pan.
Examples in context
- Le dessin au fusain est plus facile que la peinture à l'huile mais les deux sont plus difficiles que je ne le pensais.Charcoal drawing is easier than oil painting, but both are harder than I thought.Here la peinture à l'huile is compared with charcoal drawing.Tatoeba #3570750 by sacredceltic, translation #3570391 by DostKaplan
- Cette peinture à l'huile date du 17e siècle.This oil painting dates from the 17th century.Cette peinture à l'huile points to one particular painting.Tatoeba #1191043 by rene1596, translation #56551 by CM
- La peinture à l'huile date du début du seizième siècle.The oil painting is from the beginning of the sixteenth century.This sentence uses La peinture à l'huile to date a work to the sixteenth century.Tatoeba #14038807 by Ioan_Cristian, translation #14038803 by Ioan_Cristian
- J'admire les peintures à l'huile de Monet exposées au Musée d'Orsay.I admire Monet's oil paintings exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay.
Example conversation
Emma and Nathan are visiting an art gallery.
- EmmaJ'adore cette peinture à l'huile.I love this oil painting.
- NathanElle est vraiment magnifique, n'est-ce pas ?It is truly magnificent, isn't it?
- EmmaOui, les couleurs sont très vives.Yes, the colors are very bright.
- NathanC'est vrai, l'artiste est très talentueux.That's true, the artist is very talented.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry peinture à l'huile, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
