37 of the Best WordPress Themes for Artists – Free and Paid Options

As an artist, showcase your masterpieces in style with a simple and creative website.

Here is what you can do with your website. 

• Showcase your art gallery
• Sell your art online
• Reach new customers

This will be possible without writing a single line of code. We’ve hand picked the 37 best artist WordPress themes to help you get started.

Top WordPress Themes for Artists

Don’t have time to check all themes? Here are the 5 best themes you should consider as an artist! 

Theme Name	Active Installs?	Pricing	Our Rating
Astra	1,653,898+	Free / Starting from $49 €45 /year	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Neve	300,000+	Free / Starting from $81/year	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Divi	NA	Starting from $89/year	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Breakthrough Pro	NA	$360/year	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ultra	8000+	$59/year	⭐⭐⭐⭐

We’ve gone over the features of all these themes in detail further in the article. 

Let’s now explore each of these artist WordPress themes!

1. Astra

Astra is a class-leading WordPress theme with over a million active users. It’s fast-loading, very easy to use, and has all the elements you need for your artist website.

It has clean code, is SEO optimized, has a selection of image effects, attractive portfolios, contact pages, engagement options, and everything an artist is likely to need.

The Astra team has also worked on some beautiful premade templates that you can import with a single click!

Painter Artist

Painter Artist is a perfect template for artists who enjoy the beauty of minimalism. This template features a large customizable hero section where you can showcase your best work and write a short story behind the piece along with your name and title. 

The entire template is designed to direct visitors to your artwork through minimalistic and distraction-free color schemes, which contrast the brilliant paintings you will display on your website.

Calligraphy artist

Show the beauty of written words through your calligraphy art.

Calligraphy Artist is a fully customizable Astra template that helps you get started easily with your calligraphy website.

This clean, distraction-free theme brings all the attention to the written words. Choose from the hundreds of handwriting fonts available on Google or use our Custom Fonts plugin to add any font that you want to use on your website.

Painter

Not a fan of clear backgrounds and simple fonts? Try Painter.

We designed this theme to showcase not just your paintings but your artistic personality through the design of the website.

From the logo to the choice of fonts, the backgrounds to page layouts, the entire template is created with you as a painter in mind.

Astra Features:

• Attractive WordPress theme for artists
• Uses drag and drop page builders for ease of use
• Hundreds of customization options
• SEO optimized
• Requires no knowledge of code

Astra Pricing

Astra is free to use! To enhance your designs even further, upgrade to Astra Pro for only $49 €45 per year!

Opinion of Astra

Astra is a world-beating WordPress theme. You don’t need to know code, you can import website templates with ease, customization is simple and the opportunity to express yourself is limitless. It’s hard to get better than that!

2. Divi

Divi is an excellent option with a range of WordPress themes for artists. The designs are clean, crisp and modern and can be customized with ease using a page builder.

Themes are responsive, SEO friendly and can be turned to almost any genre in the right hands. Like Astra, Divi requires no coding knowledge to get the best out of it.

Divi Features:

• Lots of demo templates to choose from
• Fast loading pages
• SEO friendly
• Uses drag and drop page builders
• Compatible with most WordPress plugins

Divi Pricing

Divi costs from $89 per year.

Opinion of Divi

Divi is another great option for artists. The demo themes aren’t as attractive as Astra’s but they load quickly and can be customized to suit almost any taste.

3. Total

Total is a multipurpose theme ideal for a variety of niches, including art and design. Use the theme’s included portfolio post type to add your body of work or take advantage of the drag and drop builder to create custom page layouts to showcase your talents. 

The Total theme is responsive, retina ready, includes quick start options (demos, templates and postcards), and is compatible with most popular WordPress plugins including WooCommerce, Ultimate Addons, Yoast, JetPack, LearnDash, and many more.

Total Features:

• Drag and drop page builder
• 90+ section templates
• 500+ live customizer settings
• Built-in portfolio, team and testimonials
• SEO friendly code using vanilla Javascript
• Includes WPBakery and Revolution Slider plugins

Total Pricing

Total costs $59, which includes 6 months of premium support.

Opinion of Total

Total is a good theme if you’re looking for flexibility. There are a number of easy options to tweak the theme built-in. Plus, added hooks, filters and snippets make further customization easy for developers.

4. Breakthrough Pro

Breakthrough Pro is a minimal design with some bold elements to create interest. It uses white space well so your artwork can stand out while the visitor doesn’t get overwhelmed. It’s a good design done well.

Breakthrough Pro uses the Genesis Framework which is fast, reliable and easy to use. You’ll find all the tools and features you likely to need built-in while anything else can be added with a plugin.

Breakthrough Pro Features:

• Clean modern design
• Attractive portfolio section with multiple layout options
• SEO friendly and fast loading
• Fully responsive
• Uses the Genesis Framework

Breakthrough Pro Pricing

Comes with Genesis Pro that costs $360.

Opinion of Breakthrough Pro

Breakthrough Pro has a great design ideal for artists and works well. The design is clean and minimal while allowing any artwork you add to shine.

5. Ultra

Ultra has a different feel to Divi or Breakthrough Pro that comes through in every demo it includes. It has a more corporate feel, with slicker layouts, some nice effects and a great eye for design.

There are a couple of demo templates you could use right away while you could customize any of them with ease. An excellent option for many genres.

Ultra Features:

• Range of appealing portfolio website templates
• Wide range of customization options
• SEO friendly
• Fully responsive
• Includes the Image Pro plugin

Ultra Pricing

Ultra costs $59.

Opinion of Ultra

Ultra is an excellent option if you don’t mind a little customization. Demos are attractive and the theme comes with all the tools necessary to help you build your website. What more do you need?

6. Portfolio

Portfolio is a minimal WordPress theme for artists that has one goal, to showcase your work. It’s a very clean design with simple black and white elements with a single contrast colour.

The central section is all about your work but you can add supplementary pages and content as you see fit. It’s a great theme with some nice design touches. Pair it with a good WordPress portfolio plugin, which could work exceptionally well.

Portfolio Features:

• Minimal modern website design
• Nothing to distract the eye from your work
• Pages load very quickly
• Nice image and hover effects
• Ajax image loading

Portfolio Pricing

Portfolio costs $39.

Opinion of Portfolio

Portfolio is a very simple but effective WordPress theme for artists. It showcases the work and not much else, which makes it ideal for those who just want an online gallery to show their work.

7. Indigo

Indigo is a multipurpose WordPress theme, so could be used for anything. We like it as a WordPress theme for artists because it has that full screen image, an attractive portfolio page and some nice effects.

It’s modern, has some very contemporary touches and a hint of style that we like very much. With a wide range of portfolio and image options, this could be the only theme you need.

Indigo Features:

• Stylish design with some nice touches
• Excellent image handling
• Huge selection of portfolio types
• Works with WooCommerce
• Compatible with most WordPress plugins

Indigo Pricing

Indigo costs $129.

Opinion of Indigo

While expensive, Indigo is of a very high quality. The design is excellent, the image elements are useful and those portfolio options offer more than many other themes here.

8. Neve

Neve is another top performing WordPress theme with a range of designs to suit any niche. We particularly like the Art Exhibition theme as it showcases work nicely within a classical gallery style. Other layouts are available.

Neve is known for its clean code, fast page loading and great performance. All things WordPress themes for artists should have. It’s good looking too!

Neve Features:

• Selection of demo layouts for artists
• Fast loading pages
• Easy to use thanks to the page builder
• Some nice image effects
• Compatible with most WordPress plugins

Neve Pricing

Neve is free with premium plans starting at $81.

Opinion of Neve

Neve is a simple but very effective WordPress theme. It has some nice touches, some good layouts and the opportunity to develop your website however you like. That’s why it’s in our list of the best WordPress themes for artists.

9. Hestia

Hestia is by the same developers that brought us Neve and the two look alike, also different. This is not a dedicated WordPress theme for artists but it could easily be turned into one.

The flat design is simple but effective and has the freedom to create almost any type of page you like. With some attractive demo websites ready to go and page builder compatibility, this theme will take a little more work than most but makes it very straightforward to do.

Hestia Features:

• Modern flat web design
• Fast loading pages
• Great use of simple and complex page elements
• Lots of customization options
• Page builder compatibility

Hestia Pricing

Hestia is free to use.

Opinion of Hestia

Hestia is another of those themes that will require some work to turn it into a viable website for artists but makes it easy with a page builder and all the tools you’ll need.

10. Euphony

The main Euphony demo is for musicians but spend more than a minute with it and you can quickly see that it could work well for artists too. It’s a stylish, grown up design with a large image header and some strong image elements throughout the page.

Dark design can work well for creatives and this theme is a case in point. You can turn it light if you like but we think dark could work well for a wide range of potential audiences.

Euphony Features:

• Strong dark website theme
• Nice image elements and portfolio section
• Fully responsive
• Featured slider option
• Supports audio and video

Euphony Pricing

Euphony is free with a premium option costing $59.99.

Opinion of Euphony

Euphony may not be purely for artists but it could be. It’s a strong showing with some attractive elements that work well. Plus, dark themes can be powerful in the right hands.

11. Qi Theme

The powerful Qi WordPress theme comes with 150 demos to choose from, some of which are artists’ portfolios. Bold design with a full page layout and images throughout the home page typify these layouts and are ideal for the niche.

The Qi theme has plenty of customization options that allow you to adjust it to meet your specific needs. 

Qi can work perfectly for any kind of website, including for artists. Its smart structure provides a solid foundation for a superb user experience and large collection of gorgeous portfolio elements allows you to showcase all kinds of projects in an impressive manner.

Qi Theme Features:

• Full WooCommerce support
• Includes dedicated artist and portfolio themes
• Three available header widget areas and six-footer widget areas
• AJAX pagination
• Flexible customization options 

Qi Theme Pricing

Themes cost between $69 and $75.

Opinion of Qi Theme

The Qi Theme collection is extensive and includes a wide range of artists themes or ones usable as portfolios. They include striking design elements and can be fully customized to suit your needs.

12. Coastline

Coastline is one of the best WordPress themes for artists in this list. We would say it is only second to Astra in terms of ease of use, beauty and flexibility. It looks great, has some strong elements and a unique size navigation that makes it stand out from the off.

It’s also fully responsive, has some nice image effects and has been designed from the ground up to showcase images.

Coastline Features:

• Superb design with unique side navigation
• Strong image handling capability
• Compatible with most WordPress plugins
• Pages load quickly even when full of imagery
• SEO optimized

Coastline Pricing

Coastline costs from $34 per year.

Opinion of Coastline

Coastline is a strong WordPress theme for artists who want their work to shine. There is a lot going on but very little to distract from the work. Ideal!

13. Mai Studio

Mai Studio is a cross between a portfolio and corporate website which could be ideal for some artists. It’s a clean flat design with lots of white space, few flourishes and a no-nonsense appeal.

The main page opens with a colourful header and opens out into simple content sections. You could add a portfolio here or create standalone portfolio pages. The theme makes it easy to do either.

Mai Studio Features:

• Clean flat design with few distractions
• Lots of white space and colour
• Pages load quickly
• Lots of scope to customize
• Uses the Genesis Framework

Mai Studio Pricing

Mai Studio costs $99.

Opinion of Mai Studio

Mai Studio is simple but effective and crosses the ground between art and business. It could be the ideal design for some!

14. Filtered

Filtered is a little different in that it’s a boxed theme with shaded background. That difference makes it stand out for the right reasons and your eye is instantly drawn to the slider header.

The rest of the page is a pure portfolio designed to showcase your work. You can add other content elements if you wish, otherwise, the design works perfectly well as it is.

Filtered Features:

• Well-designed portfolio theme
• Pages load quickly
• Image showcase with nice effects
• Fully responsive design
• SEO optimized

Filtered Pricing

Filtered costs $49.

Opinion of Filtered

Filtered is an excellent WordPress theme for artists that keeps things simple but on the colourful side of minimalist. It delivers everything an artist is likely to need without overwhelming the viewer.

15. Creatista

Want a more creative theme to, in turn, showcase your creativity as an artist? Creatista is a perfect WordPress theme to show off the creative side of you. Whether you are an artist, illustrator, cartoonist, architect, or interior designer, this responsive WordPress theme is ideal for showcasing your portfolio.

Setting up the theme is pretty straightforward. Once imported, you can customize the theme to suit your website requirements. The theme is built for performance and SEO.

Creatista Features:

• Responsive and mobile-ready theme
• Minimalist design
• Quick and easy setup process
• SEO optimized
• Compatible with WooCommerce

Creatista Pricing

Creatista costs $55 for a single site license.

Opinion of Creatista

Creatista is a perfect theme to display your portfolio. The minimal theme works best for those in creative fields. With the various integrations and in-built features, Creatista is undoubtedly one to be considered.

16. Corner

Corner is a minimal design in a boxed layout like Filtered but differs in that it uses borderless elements for simplicity. It’s a simple but very effective theme that showcases your work with little fuss or fanfare.

We like the minimalist appeal with a simple bold contrast colour and lots of opportunities to showcase your work down the page.

Corner Features:

• Boxed layout with borderless elements
• Lots of white space to rest the eye
• Great use of a single contrast colour
• Pages load quickly
• Social media integration

Corner Pricing

Corner costs from $34.

Opinion of Corner

Corner is a different take on the boxed layout and it works well. The lack of formality in the design makes this suitable for all manner of art types. Well worth exploring!

17. Freedom

Freedom is another free WordPress theme for artists that really doesn’t look like a freebie. It’s a simple design with a boxed layout and large image slider up top. Simple navigation, a background image and subtle colours complete the look.

This is another theme designed to showcase your work at its best. With very little to distract the eye, your work can shine with nothing to detract from it.

Freedom Features:

• Simple but effective
• Subtle but appealing hover effects
• Lots of opportunity to customize
• SEO friendly
• Fully responsive

Freedom Pricing

Freedom is free.

Opinion of Freedom

Freedom is a capable design that provides the freedom to use the template as you see fit. It’s clean, simple and has all the elements you need.

18. Presence

Presence is more an agency theme with portfolio elements than a pure artists theme but you can quickly see why we included it. It’s another of those designs that crosses boundaries between art and business and we like it for that.

The design is clean, minimal and has that effective image slider under the header. The grey shaded background by the portfolio section is simple but very effective and gives an idea of what the theme is capable of.

Presence Features:

• Simple design but very effective
• Usable by artists, agencies or businesses
• Selection of demo templates to choose from
• Very customizable
• Includes some nice image effects

Presence Pricing

Presence costs $69.

Opinion of Presence

Presence is a classy cross between art and business and could be perfect for artists trying to achieve the same.

19. Weston

Weston is a very flexible multipurpose theme with a couple of very usable demo templates ready to go, including a couple of portfolio designs. Each is well balanced and has some fantastic fonts while showcasing your work without being too obvious about it.

There are a few portfolio options along with WooCommerce integration, some interesting hover effects and portfolio layouts. You could do a lot with this theme!

Weston Features:

• Clean modern design
• Multiple portfolio demos ready to go
• Pages load quickly
• Simple but effective portfolio layouts
• SEO optimized

Weston Pricing

Weston costs $58.

Opinion of Weston

Weston has a lot to recommend it as a WordPress theme for artists. It’s simple, elegant and flexible enough to be customized to suit any type of art. Well recommended!

20. Parallax

Parallax is an intriguing single page parallax theme. The design is mainly monochrome, which adds a nice atmosphere and lets any coloured images shine. It’s a smooth page to scroll and keeps interest easily.

The portfolio sections lower down the demo page showcases what the theme is capable of and that’s a lot!

Parallax Features:

• Mainly monochrome design stands out
• Page loads and scrolls smoothly
• Attractive portfolio options
• Single page websites work well on mobile
• Pages load quickly

Parallax Pricing

Parallax costs $59.

Opinion of Parallax

We like Parallax because it’s not afraid to be different. If you’re looking for a WordPress theme for artists that lets you express yourself in a unique way, this could be it.

21. Binder Pro

Binder Pro is a magazine style WordPress theme that could work well for artists with a lot of work to showcase. It’s very modern with a flat design, lots of white space, excellent font choices and some nice flourishes.

The image handling here is excellent, with plenty of chances to showcase your work and even sell it. The theme is also flexible enough to handle almost any customization too.

Binder Pro Features:

• Appealing modern design
• Ideal for prolific artists with a lot of work to share
• WooCommerce compatible
• Fully responsive
• Easily customizable

Binder Pro Pricing

Binder Pro costs $129.

Opinion of Binder Pro

Binder Pro deserves its place in our list of best free WordPress themes for artists. It’s slick, elegant and offers plenty of opportunity to showcase your work. What more do you need?

22. Felt

Felt is a different take on the magazine layout. It opens with a full screen image header with simple navigation across the page. It then transitions into a wide layout with multiple content sections where you can show your work.

The borderless design of the layout works well. As do the alternating coloured backgrounds and simple complementing colours. This theme could be tweaked easily to suit almost any type of art or artist.

Felt Features:

• Magazine layout done differently
• Attractive design with good colour choices
• Combination of images and copy offers options
• Simple hover effects work well
• Compatible with WooCommerce

Felt Pricing

Felt costs from $75 per year.

Opinion of Felt

Felt is a high quality artistic WordPress theme with a difference. It works well, offers a lot of scope for customization and has all the ingredients you need to build an appealing website.

23. Eclipse

Eclipse is an unfussy portfolio theme designed specifically to showcase imagery. It’s an appealing design with simple pastel palette, borderless content sections and simple navigation.

Images are everything with this design, which is why we rate it as a WordPress theme for artists.

Eclipse Features:

• Nice choice of colours and fonts
• Unfussy layout keeps your work front and centre
• Borderless elements make a surprising difference
• Compatible with WooCommerce
• Pages load quickly

Eclipse Pricing

Eclipse costs $69.

Opinion of Eclipse

Eclipse has an appeal all of its own and does a great job of showcasing imagery on the main page and portfolio pages. It’s a great theme to use.

24. Imagely

Imagely is a gallery plugin that comes with a range of very high quality portfolio demos covering minimal, dark, magazine and mainstream. It’s a feature-packed theme with a ton of features ideal for artists.

It’s a strong showing that could be ideal for artists of all kinds. It is fully responsive, works well on mobile, includes Lightbox effects and image protection features. Well worth checking out!

Imagely Features:

• Selection of top class artist demos
• Good eye for design across all themes
• Pages load quickly despite being image heavy
• Fully responsive
• Image protection option

Imagely Pricing

Imagely costs from $29 but you’ll need to spend $139 for the themes.

Opinion of Imagely

Imagely is a well designed WordPress theme for artists that is also a gallery plugin. The designs are superb but come at a price!

25. Mozzy

Mozzy is a subtle theme with a Scandi influence combined with artistic flair. It’s an unassuming design with nice colours, attractive fonts and a very usable main page.

The demo is simple in a good way with lots of white space, fast loading imagery, nice portfolio page and individual image pages. If you’re looking for something subtle while still being attractive, this could be it.

Mozzy Features:

• Uncluttered and unassuming design
• Lots of opportunities to showcase your work
• Opportunities to add other content elements throughout
• Fast loading pages
• SEO optimized

Mozzy Pricing

Mozzy costs from $34.

Opinion of Mozzy

Mozzy works because it doesn’t shout about itself or overwhelm you with colour or detail. It’s a pared back theme that could work very well in the right hands.

26. Portfolio by Creative Market

This Portfolio is another WordPress theme for artists that keeps things simple. It’s another design with a Scandi influence with those subtle colours, unfussy layout and modern fonts.

This theme has been around a while but still manages to offer a compelling design with modern touches and the chance to showcase your work in a number of ways. That says a lot about a design in such a fast-moving industry!

Portfolio Features:

• Simple and elegant design
• Attractive page layout with unfussy appeal
• Scandi influence works well
• Lots of image display options
• Compatible with most WordPress plugins

Portfolio Pricing

Portfolio costs $49.

Opinion of Portfolio

Portfolio by Creative Market is another excellent WordPress theme for artists. It’s clean, crisp and elegant and has everything you need to turn it into your very own portfolio.

27. Pixel

Pixel is an excellent example of minimalist design with a clean, crisp edge. It’s instantly attractive with a modern aesthetic and fonts and an intriguing layout.

That layout is an image showcase that has a lot going on but is instantly accessible and somehow enables each and every image to shine in its own right. For that alone it’s worth checking out.

Pixel Features:

• Clean crisp design
• Combines a full page with clever design
• Flexible enough for any use
• Pages load quickly
• Fully responsive

Pixel Pricing

Pixel costs $59.

Opinion of Pixel

We think Pixel is one of the best WordPress themes for artists bar none. It has a modern appeal, flexible approach and comes ready to go. All you need do is add your artwork and you’re ready!

28. Avik

Avik is an ideal WordPress theme for those looking to create an online portfolio. Whether you are an artist, architect, chef, freelancer, musician, interior designer, or a photographer, this theme works great when the focus is all on your work.

Do away with all the bells and whistles with this clean and minimalist theme that is responsive and works well across any device. Import the theme, customize it by adding your personalized content and launch your portfolio site quickly.

Avik Features:

• Retina Ready
• Responsive Design
• Gutenberg Compatible
• WooCommerce Compatible (Pro feature)
• WooCommerce Templates (Pro feature)

Avik Pricing

Avik is available for free with a premium version costing €49.

Opinion of Avik

While the theme is excellent for those looking just to showcase their portfolio, there are many features, such as blog layouts, portfolio layouts and about us pages that come only with the premium version. Considering these come by default in our Astra theme, we’re leaving it to your best judgment to proceed with the Avik theme.

29. Draft Portfolio

Another minimalist WordPress theme for artists or anyone who wants to showcase their portfolio is the Draft Portfolio theme. You can create a portfolio website in a matter of a few clicks with absolutely no coding skills required.

The Pro version packs in a lot of additional features, such as a custom portfolio WordPress plugin, 600+ Google Fonts, unlimited colors, and a lot more.

Draft Portfolio Features:

• Translation ready
• Responsive design
• 600+ Google fonts and unlimited colors
• Custom portfolio plugin (Pro)
• Featured content (Pro)

Draft Portfolio Pricing

Draft Portfolio is available for free with a premium version that costs $39.

Opinion of Draft Portfolio

Draft Portfolio is one of those themes that’s fine as long as it just showcases your portfolio. With many competing themes providing the Draft Portfolio’s premium features for free, you may want to consider it carefully.

30. Oscillator

Oscillator is intended for musicians but it’s clear to see an artist could use it too. While it includes audio elements, you don’t have to use them and the image elements are more than enough to build a superb website.

The designs are bold and impactful with strong imagery and fonts. A bright contrast colour adds even more interest while the alternating dark and light elements make a real difference.

See also: Website templates for musicians

Oscillator Features:

• Strong impactful design
• Modern aesthetic with strong fonts
• Lots of optional page features
• Drag and drop page builder
• SEO optimized

Oscillator Pricing

Oscillator costs from $34.

Opinion of Oscillator

Oscillator certainly makes an impact and that could work wonders for some artists. What more do you need to know?

31. Tattoo

Tattoo is a dark, moody theme that could be ideal for some artists. Much of that moodiness is provided by the images and a simple change could alter the feel completely while still retaining the dark modern look.

Typography is simple, spacing is good and each part of the page is well balanced. While simple in its design, Tattoo is also very effective and one of the few places where Times New Roman actually looks good on the web.

Tattoo Features:

• Dark design with wide appeal
• Changing images changes the atmosphere completely
• Fast loading pages
• Interesting typography
• Fully responsive

Tattoo Pricing

Tattoo is a free WordPress theme for artists.

Opinion of Tattoo

Tattoo has been well thought-out and delivers a punch. It is also flexible enough to completely change the appeal should you wish to.

32. Radiate

Radiate is another of our free WordPress themes for artists. This time it’s a lighter, more relaxed design with a lot to like. The fully width header with images sets the scene while a grey background brings it up a notch.

Down the page, simple content areas are flexible enough for any use and the traditional blog layout with sidebar delivers instant familiarity. Great for a free theme!

Radiate Features:

• Relaxed approachable design
• Could be a blog or a portfolio
• Calm colours work well
• Fully responsive
• Pages load quickly

Radiate Pricing

Radiate is free with a premium option costing $149.

Opinion of Radiate

Radiate does exactly that. It exudes calm competence. It’s also a high quality design considering it’s free!

33. Masonic

Masonic is a laid back blog design with tiled layout and simple header. It’s also very effective, with lots of white space, nice typography and a smooth flow down the page.

This is another of those free WordPress themes for artists that really doesn’t look it. It doesn’t have as much going on as some other designs but the overall look and feel is superb.

Masonic Features:

• Simple design done well
• Could be a blog or portfolio
• Tiled image layout in the centre works well
• Nice page balance
• Easy to use

Masonic Pricing

Masonic is a free WordPress theme for artists.

Opinion of Masonic

If you didn’t know it was free, you would likely be willing to pay good money for Masonic. That’s how good it is.

34. Hamilton

Hamilton is a clean, elegant theme with side navigation. It’s also free. While the demo doesn’t do it justice, spend a few minutes with Hamilton and you’ll see how much you could do with this theme with even a modest amount of work.

The side navigation really works while the monochrome colour scheme causes the images to pop. What more could you need when you’re showcasing images?

Hamilton Features:

• Crisp modern design
• Monochrome palette makes images pop
• Pages load very quickly
• Very flexible in the right hands
• Fully responsive

Hamilton Pricing

Hamilton is a free WordPress theme for artists.

Opinion of Hamilton

Hamilton is another of those deceptively simple designs that comes alive the longer you spend with it. There is a lot you could do with this if you have the time and even modest skill.

35. Rock Star

Rock Star is another music website template that could be easily repurposed for artists. It opens with a full screen image and modest navigation before switching to a more traditional layout with parallax background.

This is a very effective dark theme that could be tweaked to suit imagery instead of music with minimal customization. It’s different enough to stand out but familiar enough to be instantly accessible.

Rock Star Features:

• Stylish dark theme
• Lots of interesting elements
• Parallax background is a nice touch
• Fully responsive design
• Supports most WordPress plugins

Rock Star Pricing

Rock Star is a free WordPress theme for artists with a premium option that costs $59.99.

Opinion of Rock Star

Rock Star is a great theme that could work perfectly for some artists. If you have work that could make an instant impact with that full screen header, this could be for you.

36. Illdy

Illdy is a Scandi inspired multipurpose theme with definite scope for artists. It’s a clean and achingly modern design with great colours and fonts and a welcoming feel.

Once past the full screen header image, the page is a standard layout with content boxes, portfolio options, testimonials, biography and all those elements you’re going to need.

Illdy Features:

• Calm, welcoming design
• Great use of colours and fonts
• Wide appeal with minimal customization
• Pages load quickly
• Fully responsive

Illdy Pricing

Illdy is a free WordPress theme for artists.

Opinion of Illdy

Illdy is one more example of free templates done well. It’s modern, appealing and doesn’t let you down in any way.

37. Audioman

Audioman is another music template that could be tweaked for artists with minimal effort. The theme comes with light and dark options for wide appeal and uses some great design tricks to engage.

The theme has excellent image sections with hero content sections, scrolling sliders and high contrast monochrome sections that really stand out.

Audioman Features:

• Flexible theme that could be tweaked for any use
• Includes dark and light layouts
• Image handling is done well
• Well balanced layout with a lot of potential
• Fully responsive

Audioman Pricing

Audioman is a free WordPress theme for artists with a premium option that costs $59.99.

Opinion of Audioman

Audioman is a flexible theme with wide appeal and some nice touches. As it’s available in both dark and light versions, it could work well for many types of artist.

Things to Consider When Choosing an Artistic WordPress Theme

While any website can be made to work for an artist, there are a few features that can significantly benefit your website.

Your artistic WordPress theme should ideally include one or more of these features:

SEO Optimization

SEO optimization is a key component of any WordPress theme. Its primary goal is to make your website look attractive but it also has to help you with the search engines.

An SEO optimized theme should load quickly, contain a logical page structure and support schema markup. If it also contains clean code and has social media integration, all the better!

Responsiveness

Responsive design is an SEO benefit but also offers usability benefits too. As more and more people use mobile to surf the web, your website needs to cater to that.

A fully responsive website delivers the same quality of experience regardless of what size screen the visitor uses.

Portfolio

The main intent of an artist website is to showcase your work. There’s no better way to do that than with a portfolio. You can keep it simple with a grid layout of your work or go the extra mile with transitions, Lightbox effects and other neat tricks.

As long as your work is clearly visible and accessible to all users, it is entirely up to you how you create a portfolio.

Be Flexible and Customizable

A viable WordPress theme for artists should be flexible enough to cope with changing needs and an ever expanding portfolio. If the theme can do that, it is worth using.

Being able to customize the theme is also important. While we have listed a selection of attractive WordPress themes for artists that are ready to use as they are, you’re very likely to want to personalize your theme a little.

Design and Layout

A great website design is simple and to the point. It instantly communicates what the website is all about and delivers the content the user is looking for right away.

Some web designs use sliders for showcasing images while others use full screen image headers or gallery elements.

However you make your website, as long as it tells your story in an interesting way and showcases your work, it’s all good!

Essential Ingredients of a Successful Artist Website

We know that the primary goal of an artist’s website is to showcase your work but what else should it contain?

Here are a few essential ingredients every successful artist’s website should include:

Artist Biography

People aren’t just interested in your work, they will be interested in you too. Your origins, your story, how you came to be an artist, what inspires you and anything else you’re willing to share.

Including a biography on your website is an incredibly important way to engage with your audience.

High Quality Images

It may seem obvious, but your website needs to use the highest quality images possible to do your work justice. Trouble is, the higher the image quality, the larger the file. The larger the file, the slower the page loads.

You’ll need to optimize your images skilfully to combine quality with fast loading. Fortunately, there are some powerful image optimization plugins for WordPress that can help.

Attractive Header Section

The website header is usually the first thing you’ll see. It’s at the top of the page and can include the logo, top navigation, slider, teaser images and all kinds of content.

The idea is to make an instant impression to make the visitor want to see more of your site while maintaining usability. The more attractive the header, the more instant the engagement.

Events Pages

Events pages can be useful for advertising appearances, exhibitions and events you may hold or participate in. You can combine event elements with booking plugins, email marketing tools, reminders and other tricks to help market your events and widen their reach.

Contact Information

Contact information is a critical element of any website. Unless you’re the reclusive sort, you’re going to want potential customers to get in touch. You may also want interested parties to contact you for appearances or commissions.

If you don’t want to be contacted directly, you can always point your contact page to your agent!

Link to All Social Media Accounts

If you use social media to engage with your audience, including your website in the mix is essential. You can use it to share your work, share across social media and help increase reach and engagement across all channels.

Wrap Up

So those are what we think are the best WordPress themes for artists. Some are free, some are premium, all have the qualities we look for when judging great web design with the features and focus required for their intended use.

Whatever style of artist you are, there is bound to be an artistic WordPress theme perfect for your needs right here!

WordPress theme listicles you might be interested in:

• 10 Best WordPress Photography Themes
• 36 Best WordPress Portfolio Themes

Do you have a favourite artistic WordPress theme? Do you already use any of them? Have anything to add? Tell us about it below if you do!