How long does it take for an oil painting to dry?

A painting I finished 4 days ago it still very wet to the touch. I live in a unheated house in WV with the humidity generally at about 40%. I use the cheaper Winsor %26amp; Newton paints. Not the ';Artist'; grade.How long does it take for an oil painting to dry?
Most oil painters I know say to hold off varnishing for 3-6 months, and that oil paint is usually cured by the time a year passes. You must have used lots of oil as a medium. . . .How long does it take for an oil painting to dry?
As with the other answers.. It does really depend on the thickness of the paint, The Hue or Colour used, plus many other factors. Believe it or not some paintings from 50 years ago are still wet. I've had paintings dry within weeks. I still have 2 paintings from the 1990's that still haven't totally cured. It's not the quality of the paint that matters in most cases. As with some of the answers are correct above. 3-6 months for varnish, (Dont use spray on varnish, Spray varnish cant be removed) Some paintings take 1 year to dry for Varnish.
The drying time will vary depending on what pigments were used, how thick the paint layer is, how much oil or solvent was used. Cooler temperatures will slow drying time. Some pigments will stay tacky for a long time. Cover the painting on the easel with a cloth to prevent dust from settling on the surface and just leave it alone. In general it should be touch dry in a week or two, but it will not be considered fully dried until the oil has finished oxidizing. In most cases that takes a year or slightly longer.





How the hell do you live in West Virginia with no heat?
If you house is unheated it will take quite some time in cold weather to dry. Possibly a month. It could even be more.


The quality of the paint does not have to do much with the drying time. Mainly each color has different times it dries depending on the amount of pigments.





For example red dry much slower.





Just be patience!
It depends on, what kind of, and how much medium was used. I read somewhere that the average oil painting actually takes about eight years to fully cure. You can usually varnish after six months to a year.
it should fully dry after two weeks. after two days the top layer will be dry, but dont mess with it for two weeks.
It depends on how thick the paint was put on.