"Is it really painted by hand? It looks exactly like the photograph." It is one of the questions we get most often from customers and the curious - and we understand why. AI images and prints have become so widespread that many people automatically assume a detailed portrait must have been made by a machine. That is actually the nicest compliment our artist can receive. But the answer is no: every single painting from Fotoalsgemälde.ch is 100 % hand-painted in oil on canvas - no AI, no printer, no robot. Here is how you can see it for yourself.
6 sure signs of a genuine hand-painted painting
1. You can feel the brushstrokes
Gently run your fingertips over the surface. Oil paint is applied layer upon layer, and the strokes leave a physical relief - tiny ridges and hollows that follow the subject. A print is glass-smooth (or has an added "gel texture" whose pattern doesn't match the shapes of the subject). It is the quickest test there is.
2. Look at the edges of the canvas
On a hand-painted work, the paint continues over the edge with natural irregularities - where the artist's brush has carried on. A print stops at a razor-sharp, mechanical line.
3. The smell of oil paint
A freshly painted oil painting smells faintly of oil and varnish for the first few weeks. Neither a printer nor an AI can recreate that - it is the smell of a workshop, not a machine.
4. The small human choices
An artist doesn't copy pixels - he interprets. The light in the hair is simplified a touch, a background is made calmer, a smile gets a little more warmth. If you compare photo and painting side by side, you will see hundreds of tiny decisions that an algorithm doesn't make. AI images, by contrast, give themselves away in the opposite way: mechanical perfection in one place and meaningless errors in another (fingers, earrings, text).
5. The time: 2-3 weeks - not 3 minutes
A printer is done in minutes. Our paintings take 2-3 weeks, because oil has to be painted in layers and dry in between. Along the way you receive pictures of your painting from the studio and approve it before we send it. So you follow the process yourself - which is hard to fake.
6. The back and the stretcher frame
Turn the painting over: genuine canvas is stretched on a wooden stretcher with visible folds in the corners, and you can often make out where the paint has seeped through at the edges. Mass-produced prints look identical every time.
Why does the doubt arise in the first place?
Because the alternatives have got better at looking the part. An AI image (8-32 CHF) can look impressive on a screen - but it is a file, not a work of art. A canvas print (32-130 CHF) can have an artificial texture - but it is still ink on fabric, which fades within 5-10 years. A hand-painted oil painting is the only one of the three that is an original physical work of art, and therefore also the only one that lasts for generations. We have made a thorough comparison here: Photo on canvas or hand-painted painting - which is best?
Our process is the proof
This is how your painting comes into being with us - and why the process itself rules out machines:
- Photo analysis: We go through your photo and advise on cropping, light and subject.
- Hand-painting in the studio: The artist Michael paints your subject in oil on gallery-stretched canvas - layer by layer.
- Approval along the way: You receive pictures of the finished painting and can ask for adjustments - we correct the paint, not a file.
- Delivery: Only once you have approved is the painting packed and sent by insured, trackable parcel delivery (DHL/UPS) to your door.
See the level of detail for yourself in 7 genuine examples from the studio - photographed as they are, without filters. And should you, against expectation, not be satisfied, we repaint it or give you your money back. 4.5/5 on Trustpilot from 1,689 reviews speaks for itself.
What does a genuine hand-painted painting cost?
The price is simple: one fixed amount per size - floating frame and free shipping included. From 495 CHF (60x40 cm), incl. frame and shipping, delivered throughout Switzerland. See the whole price guide here - or upload your photo and order. 🎄 If it needs to be under the Christmas tree, order by 1 December at the latest.