@StillCoughingandLaughing
All the posters saying this is a breach of copyright law are at best being very strict in their interpretation of the law and at worst being desperately naive.
I’m saying it is a beach of copyright law because I have read the bloody law and it is an infringement. I’m not even interpreting the law strictly; it’s clearly an infringement and there is no permitted use. If @zatarontoast told the artist she can’t afford the original oil painting, she’s gutted she doesn’t do prints and asked her could she just print out the Instagram photograph of it and frame it, for a small agreed fee perhaps if the artist doesn’t initially agree - if the artist agrees, then that protects her against infringement. But infringement it is.
Copyright law is designed to protect artists (and by artists I also mean writers, musicians, actors etc.) from people using their work to make a profit.
This is incorrect. @SourcePlease hasn’t said it yet, so I’ll do it for her and also answer the question.
Copyright law is not intended only to stop others from using the artist’s work to make a profit. According to the Intellectual Property Office, the intention behind it is simply to “protect your work and stop others from using it without your permission”.
www.gov.uk/copyright
In addition, according to the U.K. Copyright Service:
“The law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their material may be used.”
copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
Preventing people profiting from your work may be part of that policy, but “commercial use” copying is not the only issue against which the law guards. For example, if the OP did ask the artist’s permission to print out a pic of the painting, the artist might refuse because she’s concerned the resolution or whatever would make it look crap, because much of its artistic merit lies in the original materials (the texture of the oils on the canvass, the brighter colour etc). The artist might be worried someone could come to the OP’s house, see her framed print out of the Instagram pic and say “Jesus that looks shit...who’s it by? Won’t buy their work!” This example should explain why artists want to have control over how their work, into which they have probably put a lot of effort, should be used and displayed.
IP law can be complex and many bold statements have been slung about on this thread by those for whom a little knowledge has proved a dangerous thing.