Megan Elizabeth Read

Megan Elizabeth Read is an American figurative artist working primarily in oil. After a career in technology, Read returned to drawing and painting in 2017, developing a practice centered on the human figure, intimate still life, and the emotional and psychological spaces between them. Her work combines close observation with a personal and often symbolic approach to realism, exploring themes of identity, vulnerability, connection, and the ways we navigate the world around us.

Read’s work has been exhibited extensively in the United States and internationally, including at the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Arcadia Contemporary in New York, and the Salmagundi Club in New York. Her work has also been exhibited in Spain, Australia, Canada, and Taiwan, and at Sotheby’s in New York as part of the International Art Renewal Center Salon and Contemporary Discoveries auction. Her paintings are held in public and private collections, including the Bennett Collection of Women Realists and the permanent collection of the New Salem Museum of Art. Her work has been featured in publications including International Artist, American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoisseur, Beautiful Bizarre, and Poets & Artists.

Read has received numerous awards and distinctions, including First Place in Imaginative Realism at the 2019 Art Renewal Center Salon and the Director’s Choice Award at the 2020 International Guild of Realism Juried Exhibition. She received the Silver Medal of Honor from the Allied Artists of America in 2025 and was awarded the First Place Prize in the 2026 International FiKVA Award for Painters for her painting Autumn Again, selected from 1,290 artworks submitted by artists from 74 countries.

Read’s practice moves between traditional representational painting and more personal, symbolic approaches to image-making. She is interested in the balance between technical skill and emotional resonance, and in the ways artists use observation, composition, and the language of the figure to create work that feels both carefully considered and deeply personal.

Website: maeread.com
IG: @mae.read