aburae wo mite imasu.

油絵 is pronounced あぶらえ.

• 油 = あぶら = oil
• 絵 = え = picture / painting

Together, 油絵 means oil painting.

を marks the direct object of the verb.

In 油絵を見ています, the thing being looked at is 油絵, so を shows that 油絵 is what the action is directed toward.

A natural breakdown is:

• 油絵 = oil painting
• を = object marker
• 見ています = am looking at / am watching / am viewing

So を is the grammar marker that connects oil painting to the action look at.

見ています is the て-form + います pattern, which often shows an action that is in progress.

So:

• 見ます = look at / will look at / look at habitually
• 見ています = am looking at

In this sentence, 見ています suggests that the person is currently looking at the oil painting.

For example:

• 油絵を見ます。 = I look at oil paintings / I will look at the oil painting.
• 油絵を見ています。 = I am looking at the oil painting.

Not by itself in this sentence.

It is true that います can mean to exist for living things, as in:

• 猫がいます。 = There is a cat.

But in 見ています, the います is part of the grammar pattern verb in て-form + います.

So here:

• 見て = て-form of 見る
• います = helping verb showing an ongoing state or action

Together, 見ています means is looking / am looking.

So you should think of it as one verb phrase, not as look + there is.

Japanese often leaves out the subject when it is clear from context.

So 油絵を見ています。 could mean:

• I am looking at an oil painting.
• He is looking at an oil painting.
• She is looking at an oil painting.
• They are looking at an oil painting.

The sentence itself does not specify who is doing the action. You understand the subject from the situation or earlier conversation.

If you want to state it explicitly, you could say:

• 私は油絵を見ています。 = I am looking at an oil painting.

Japanese nouns usually do not mark singular vs. plural, and they usually do not have articles like a or the.

So 油絵 can mean different things depending on context:

• an oil painting
• the oil painting
• oil paintings

In this sentence, English translators often choose an oil painting or the oil painting, but Japanese itself is more flexible.

Context tells you which one is meant.

見る can cover both see and look at, depending on context.

In 油絵を見ています, the meaning is usually closer to looking at or viewing, because 見ている suggests an ongoing action.

So here, a natural English idea is:

• I am looking at an oil painting.

If the meaning were more like simple ability or accidental seeing, Japanese might be phrased differently depending on context.

Yes. In normal Japanese writing, you would usually write it as:

油絵を見ています。

The spaces in 油絵　を　見て　います。 are just for learners, to make the parts easier to see.

Japanese normally does not use spaces between words the way English does.

The dictionary form is 見る.

Here is the transformation:

• 見る → dictionary form
• 見て → て-form
• 見ています → て-form + います

So if you look up the verb in a dictionary, you should search for 見る.

Yes.

• 見ている is the plain form
• 見ています is the polite form

So:

• 油絵を見ている。 = plain / casual
• 油絵を見ています。 = polite

Both mean basically the same thing, but the level of politeness is different.

Because 見て is the て-form of 見る.

見る is an ichidan verb, so to make the て-form:

• remove る
• add て

So:

• 見る → 見て

Then add います:

• 見て + います → 見ています

This is a very common grammar pattern in Japanese.

Yes, very easily.

By itself, 油絵を見ています。 only tells you that someone is looking at an oil painting. It does not say where.

Depending on context, it could be:

• in a museum
• in an art gallery
• at home
• in a book
• on a screen

Japanese often gives only the core information, and the rest comes from context.

Usually 油絵 means an oil painting or oil painting as a type of artwork.

So it can refer to:

• a specific oil painting
• oil paintings in general
• the medium/style of oil painting

In this sentence, because it is followed by を見ています, it most naturally refers to an artwork being looked at.