VAN GOGH STYLE PET PORTRAITS — ORIGINAL OIL PAINTINGS BY ONE OF THE 125 PAINTERS OF LOVING VINCENT
A Van Gogh style pet portrait from this studio is an original oil painting on canvas: thick, textured brushwork you can see and touch, not a digital filter and not a print. Klaudyna Hady was one of 125 painters chosen from approximately 5,000 applicants worldwide to hand-paint frames for Loving Vincent (2017), the first fully oil-painted feature film, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. She now paints dogs and cats on commission from her studio in Rzeszów, Poland. Every portrait ships insured, worldwide, with shipping in the price.
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Loving Vincent (2017)
One of 125 painters selected from around 5,000 applicants worldwide. The film was nominated for an Academy Award.
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The Peasants (2023)
Painting for the animation in the same technique — oil on canvas, frame by frame.
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Degree
MFA with distinction — Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts, Łódź.
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Collections
Over 150 works in private collections.
What Makes a Van Gogh Style Pet Portrait Different From a Print
Most “Van Gogh style” pet portraits sold online are AI-generated images printed on canvas. The software borrows the look of swirling brushstrokes; the surface itself stays flat. A printed swirl is a photograph of texture, not texture.
A hand-painted impasto portrait is a physical object. The paint stands up from the canvas in ridges, some of them several millimeters high, laid down stroke by stroke with a brush and a palette knife. Tilt it toward a window and the ridges catch the light differently every hour of the day. That is the entire point of painting in Van Gogh’s manner, and it is the one thing no printer can reproduce.
The difference shows up in the price, and it should. A print costs $40–$200 because it takes minutes of machine time. An original oil takes Klaudyna Hady between 6.5 and 26 hours at the easel, plus drying time measured in days.
The Technique — Layer, Knife, Drying Time
A Van Gogh style portrait is built in a fixed order, and the order cannot be rushed. Klaudyna Hady begins with a lean underpainting: a thin, fast-drying block-in that fixes the composition, the values, and the placement of the eyes, because if the eyes are wrong, nothing else matters. That layer has to be touch-dry, which takes one to three days, before anything goes on top of it.
The middle layers build form — the skull structure under the fur, the fall of light across the muzzle, the color shifts between lit and shadowed coat. These are brush layers, worked fat over lean, each one left to reach touch-dry before the next goes on.
The impasto comes last, and mostly in the lights. This is where the palette knife takes over from the brush, dragging thick, unthinned paint across the highest ridges of form: the bridge of the nose, the catchlights in the eyes, the rim light along an ear. Every stroke follows the direction the animal’s coat actually grows in. In Van Gogh’s hands, the directional stroke was expressive; here it is also anatomical. A stroke that runs against the way the fur lies looks wrong, even to a viewer who cannot say why.
This is the same layered discipline the film demanded, where every frame had to hold up on a movie screen. After the final stroke, the painting rests for 7–14 days before it is safe to pack.
Painted by One of the 125 Artists Chosen for Loving Vincent
Klaudyna Hady was one of 125 painters selected from approximately 5,000 applicants worldwide to hand-paint the oil-on-canvas frames of Loving Vincent. The film runs on 65,000 individually painted oil frames, and the technique that produced them is the same one that now shapes the fur, the light, and the texture of a pet portrait.
During production she worked in the Gdańsk studio, painting mainly scenes with Armand Roulin, the young man in the yellow jacket from Van Gogh’s own portraits. Painting in Van Gogh’s style for film is unforgiving work: every frame is checked against the one before it, so the brushwork has to be fluent rather than imitated. That fluency is what a commission buys.
Her credit is public and checkable in two places: IMDb and her artist profile on the official Loving Vincent website (that page is in Polish). Loving Vincent was nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature; it did not win. Klaudyna Hady holds an MFA with honors from the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, and more than 150 of her paintings hang in private collections. Her full account of the production is on the Loving Vincent painter page.
See the Texture — Not a Print
The photographs below are of the physical painting, shot at an angle under raking side light rather than scanned flat. Side light is the honest test: on a print it reveals a smooth surface, and on an impasto oil it throws every knife mark and brush ridge into relief. You get photographs like these of your own portrait before it ships, so you can see the surface before you approve the final payment.
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Macro detail under raking side light — ridges of unthinned paint.
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Every stroke follows the direction the coat actually grows in.
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Stage 1 — lean underpainting, one to three days to touch-dry.
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Stage 2 — impasto layers, worked fat over lean.
Sizes and Pricing
Every Van Gogh style pet portrait is an original oil on stretched canvas, hand-painted to order by Klaudyna Hady from your photograph. Prices are the same for dogs, cats, and other animals, and every price includes insured express shipping worldwide.
| Size (in) | Size (cm) | Time at the easel | USD | GBP | EUR |
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| Small — 12 × 8 in | 30 × 20 cm | ~6.5 h | $475 | £355 | €415 |
| Medium — 16 × 12 in | 40 × 30 cm | ~11 h | $725 | £535 | €625 |
| Large — 20 × 14 in | 50 × 35 cm | ~14 h | $895 | £665 | €775 |
| XL — 28 × 20 in | 70 × 50 cm | ~19 h | $1,195 | £885 | €1,035 |
| XXL — 35 × 24 in | 90 × 60 cm | ~26 h | $1,650 | £1,225 | €1,435 |
Pay in USD from the US, Canada, and Australia; in GBP from the United Kingdom; in EUR from Ireland and the rest of the European Union.
These prices sit between mass-market prints, at $40–$200, and the established studio painters who charge $950–$1,500 and up for the same formats. That gap is the right place for original, hand-painted impasto work backed by a film credit anyone can verify in thirty seconds. Looking for a classic realistic portrait instead? See the full range of hand-painted pet portraits.
Klaudyna Hady replies within 2 business days with a firm price and the next available slot.
What’s Included in Every Price
- Original oil painting on stretched canvas, edges painted — ready to hang or frame
- A composition sketch for you to approve before painting begins, then progress photographs at two stages
- Signed certificate of authenticity
- Insured express courier shipping worldwide, covered to the painting’s full declared value
- Tracking number and export-grade packing: glassine paper, foam board, double box
Not included: a frame, since impasto canvases are usually hung unframed or in a floater frame chosen locally, and any tax or clearance fee your own country charges on arrival — set out country by country below.
Multiple Pets and Add-Ons
- Second pet in the same painting: +35% of the base price
- Third pet: +65% of the base price
- Keepsake option: +$95 / +£70 / +€85 — your pet’s name and dates hand-lettered on the reverse of the canvas, with an archival keepsake box. This covers the lettering and the box. There is no memorial surcharge, and there never will be.
- Rush commission: +25%, Small and Medium sizes only, painted with a fast-drying alkyd medium. Three rush slots per quarter, a limit set by drying times and by Klaudyna Hady’s calendar rather than by marketing.
How a Van Gogh Style Commission Works
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01
Send your photo
Email or upload a photo of your pet taken in natural light, at the animal’s eye level if you can manage it. Klaudyna Hady will tell you plainly whether there is enough in it to paint from, and she can often work from imperfect photos given a few extra snapshots or a short video call. This stage costs nothing.
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02
Approve the composition sketch
Before any paint touches the canvas, you receive a sketch showing the pose, the crop, and the direction the background will take. Nothing proceeds until you approve it. Changes here are easy and free. Once the sketch is agreed, a 50% deposit books your slot in the calendar.
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Painting, with progress photos
Klaudyna Hady works in layers over one to three weeks, depending on size, and sends photographs at two stages so you can see the portrait develop and comment before the impasto layer seals those decisions in.
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04
Drying
The finished painting rests for 7–14 days until the impasto is safe to pack. This stage cannot be compressed; it is chemistry, not scheduling.
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05
Final photos, balance, and shipping
You see raking-light photographs of the finished portrait, pay the remaining 50%, and the canvas is wrapped in glassine, boarded, double-boxed, and sent by insured express courier. The tracking number reaches you the same day.
I invoice for both stages, with full company and bank details on the invoice. My film credits are listed publicly on IMDb and on the Loving Vincent website, so you can verify who you are commissioning before you pay anything.
Shipping, Customs, and Christmas 2026 Deadlines
Every painting ships from Poland by insured express courier, typically 2–5 business days in transit to the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and the EU. Shipping, insurance, and tracking are included in every price above; full terms are on the pricing, shipping, and customs page.
What You Pay on Arrival, Country by Country
Most sellers stay vague about this. Here it is in full, because a surprise bill at the door is worse than a number on a page.
| Destination | What you pay when it arrives |
|---|---|
| United States | No import duty. Original hand-painted artworks are duty-free under HTS heading 9701, and that exemption held through the 2026 tariff changes. Your courier may add a small clearance fee. |
| European Union, including Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands | Nothing at all. Poland is in the EU, so the parcel crosses no customs border. No duty, no import VAT, no clearance fee. |
| United Kingdom | No duty. Import VAT applies at the reduced 5% rate for original art, not the standard 20% — about £18 on a £355 portrait — plus the courier’s clearance fee. |
| Canada | No duty; original paintings are duty-free. GST of 5% applies, plus the provincial portion in HST provinces, and the courier’s clearance fee. |
| Australia | No duty. GST of 10% and the Import Processing Charge apply to shipments valued at AUD 1,000 or more, which in practice means Medium and larger. The Small size usually lands below the threshold with nothing to pay. |
Every shipment is declared accurately as an original artwork at its real value, which is what keeps the artwork exemptions available in the first place. Rates and thresholds are current as of August 2026; your courier will confirm the exact figure for your address before you commit.
Christmas 2026 Order Deadlines
Painting time, plus up to 14 days of drying, plus international transit means the calendar closes early:
| Your region | Order by |
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| United States, Canada, Australia | October 20, 2026 |
| United Kingdom, Ireland | October 27, 2026 |
| European Union | November 3, 2026 |
After those dates a limited number of rush slots (+25%, Small and Medium only) stay open until November 10 for the US, Canada, and Australia; November 17 for the UK and Ireland; and November 20 for the EU.
If you miss the date entirely, ask about a commission gift certificate. It arrives as a PDF within a day and as a printed card by post, so the portrait can be given at Christmas and painted in January, when the calendar is open and the wait is shorter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a real oil painting or a printed or AI-generated image?
Every portrait is an original, hand-painted oil on stretched canvas. There is no printing, no digital rendering, and no AI at any stage. Klaudyna Hady paints each commission from your photograph with brushes and a palette knife, in the layered impasto technique she used on Loving Vincent. The macro photographs in the texture section above show the raised paint surface under side light, which is the one thing a print cannot fake.
How thick is the paint — will I actually see the brushstrokes?
Yes. Impasto means the paint is applied thickly enough to hold the mark of the brush and the palette knife, standing up from the canvas in visible ridges, highest in the lit areas of the portrait. The strokes follow the direction of your pet’s fur, so the texture describes the animal rather than decorates it. Under ordinary room lighting the surface visibly changes as you move around the painting.
Can the background be based on The Starry Night?
Yes. A night sky in the manner of The Starry Night is the most common request, painted in the same swirling post-impressionist strokes as the animal itself. Sunflower yellows and the flat, bright blues of the Arles paintings are the two that come up next. Van Gogh’s work is in the public domain, so this is a painted interpretation rather than a copy, and the background is settled at the sketch stage before any paint goes on the canvas.
Can I really commission someone who worked on Loving Vincent, and how do I know it is true?
Yes. Klaudyna Hady was one of 125 painters chosen from approximately 5,000 applicants worldwide for Loving Vincent (2017), and her credit is listed on IMDb and on her profile on the film’s official website. The film was painted frame by frame in oil and was nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature; it did not win. She worked in the Gdańsk studio, mainly on scenes with Armand Roulin. There is more on her Loving Vincent painter page.
IMDb · Loving Vincent artist profile · Loving Vincent painter page
My only photo is old, blurry, or taken on a phone. Is that enough?
Often, yes. A painter is not a scanner: the reference sets the pose, the proportions, and the markings, and the rest comes from anatomy and from what you tell Klaudyna Hady about the animal. Send whatever you have, including several photos if the best single one is poor. She will tell you honestly whether there is enough to work from before you pay anything, and if there is not, she will say so rather than take the commission.
How do I pay, and is it safe to buy from Poland?
Payment is in two parts: 50% once you approve the composition sketch, and 50% after you have seen photographs of the finished portrait, before it ships. I invoice for both stages, with full company and bank details on the invoice. Klaudyna Hady works from her studio in Rzeszów, Poland, and her film credits are listed publicly on IMDb and on the Loving Vincent website.
How long does it take, and will it arrive in time for Christmas?
Three to six weeks door to door: one to three weeks of painting depending on size, 7–14 days of drying, and 2–5 business days of express transit. For Christmas 2026 delivery, order by October 20 for the US, Canada, and Australia; October 27 for the UK and Ireland; or November 3 for the EU. A small number of rush slots (+25%, Small and Medium sizes only) extend those dates by about three weeks.
Do I have to pay customs or import duty when it arrives from Poland?
No duty anywhere in the target markets, because original hand-painted artworks are duty-free in all of them. Tax on arrival depends on where you live: nothing at all in the EU and Ireland, since Poland is in the EU; nothing in the US, where HTS heading 9701 keeps original paintings duty-free; import VAT at the reduced 5% rate in the UK; 5% GST plus the provincial portion in Canada; and 10% GST in Australia on shipments valued at AUD 1,000 or more. Outside the EU your courier may also add a small clearance fee.
What if it is damaged in shipping, or lost?
Every shipment is insured for the painting’s full declared value and packed to export standard: glassine paper against the paint surface, foam board, and a double box. Tracking is active from the moment the courier collects the parcel. If the outer box arrives damaged, photograph it before you unpack and contact Klaudyna Hady within 48 hours. The insurance claim is hers to make, not yours, and if the painting cannot be restored she repaints it at no cost to you.
What if I do not like the result?
You approve a composition sketch before any paint goes on the canvas, and you see progress photographs at two stages, so the portrait is shaped with you rather than revealed to you. Anything that is off at either checkpoint gets changed there, at no charge; that is what the checkpoints are for. A made-to-order commission cannot be resold, so it is not covered by the 14-day change-of-mind return that applies to off-the-shelf goods in the EU and the UK. The work itself is covered: if the painting arrives with a fault in materials or workmanship, Klaudyna Hady repairs or repaints it at her own cost.
How long does oil paint take to dry, and does that affect the painting?
Oil paint is touch-dry within days but takes months to cure fully. That is normal and it does not affect shipping safety, because the 7–14 day rest before packing brings the impasto to a stable, pack-safe state. Portraits are either varnished with Gamvar, a conservation varnish that can go on early and dries within 24 hours, or shipped unvarnished with written instructions for varnishing locally after the paint has cured. Traditional varnish needs a six-month wait and is never used here, since it would make Christmas delivery physically impossible.
Request Your Van Gogh Style Portrait
Klaudyna Hady replies within 2 business days with a firm price and the next available slot.