PleinAir® Salon Art Competition has been awarding cash prizes and promoting artists for 14 years. In the spirit of the French Salon created by the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, this art competition is designed to stimulate artistic growth through competition.

Many artists who have won in the PleinAir Salon have said that they use the competition to gauge how they stack up against other artists. When they didn’t win, they would look at the paintings that did, to see what they needed to do differently. Eventually they went on to win!

The PleinAir Salon is an online-only competition, which means there are no framing costs, and no mailing artwork for an exhibition. Artists are also able to submit paintings that have won in other competitions, and paintings that you’ve already sold. In fact, artists can enter as many paintings as they like, in as many categories as they like. The same painting can even be entered in multiple categories!

The PleinAir Salon was created by the publisher of PleinAir® magazine, but despite having “PleinAir” in the name, there are plenty of categories for non-plein air paintings. With 19 categories to choose from, there is plenty of variety for different mediums and subjects.

There are 12 monthly cycles in the competition where we award over $2,150 in all cash prizes, for a total of $25,800 each year. Each of our monthly winners receive recognition and exposure through PleinAir magazine’s print magazine, e-newsletters, and social media. Additionally, all the monthly winners are automatically included in the judging for the Annual PleinAir Salon Competition.

The PleinAir Salon Annual Awards take place live at the Plein Air Convention and Expo each May. There are $25,000 in annual cash awards, including the $15,000 Grand Prize. This winner will also have their winning painting featured on the cover of PleinAir magazine, which is the #1 representational art magazine at Barnes & Noble.

In total, the PleinAir Salon awards over $50,000 in ALL cash prizes throughout the year.

Learn more at PleinAirSalon.com/tag.