Realist Animal Paintings
Realist art attempts to portray its subject matter without artifice. Similar to naturalism, authentic realist paintings and prints see an integration of true-to-life colors, meticulous detail and linear perspectives for accurate portrayals of the world.
Work that involves illusionistic techniques of realism dates back to the classical world, such as the deceptive trompe l’oeil used since ancient Greece. Art like this became especially popular in the 17th century when Dutch artists like Evert Collier painted objects that appeared real enough to touch. Realism as an artistic movement, however, usually refers to 19th-century French realist artists such as Honoré Daumier exploring social and political issues in biting lithographic prints, while the likes of Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet painting people — particularly the working class — with all their imperfections, navigating everyday urban life. This was a response to the dominant academic art tradition that favored grand paintings of myth and history.
By the turn of the 20th century, European artists, such as the Pre-Raphaelites, were experimenting with nearly photographic realism in their work, as seen in the attention to every botanical attribute of the flowers surrounding the drowned Ophelia painted by English artist John Everett Millais.
Although abstraction was the guiding style of 20th-century art, the realism trend in American modern art endured in Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth and other artists’ depictions of the complexities of the human experience. In the late 1960s, Photorealism emerged with artists like Chuck Close and Richard Estes giving their paintings the precision of a frame of film.
Contemporary artists such as Jordan Casteel, LaToya Ruby Frazier and Aliza Nisenbaum are now using the unvarnished realist approach for honest representations of people and their worlds. Alongside traditional mediums, technology such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and immersive installations are helping artists create new sensations of realism in art.
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Mid-20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1880s Realist Animal Paintings
Gold Leaf
1880s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
1880s Realist Animal Paintings
Gold Leaf
1920s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Wood, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
1890s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 1900s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 1900s Realist Animal Paintings
Pastel
1990s Realist Animal Paintings
Gesso, Canvas, Cotton, Paint, Cotton Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Board
Artist Comments
A hummingbird feeds at the tubular blossom of a honeysuckle vine. The loosely painted and differently colored green leaves frame the scene. Painted in detail, t...
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Acrylic
20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Silk, Watercolor, Handmade Paper, Carbon Pencil, Gouache
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Gouache
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Early 1900s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 1900s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
1920s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Board
Early 1900s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 1900s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
1940s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1970s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Lacquer, Acrylic
1850s Realist Animal Paintings
Gold Leaf
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Postcard
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
Artist Comments
A calico cat displays its endearing charm. Painted in a realist style, artist Shuxing Fan portrays the curious gaze of his son's feline friend, with its eyes ...
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
1860s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Laid Paper
1950s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
1880s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
1910s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1940s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s Realist Animal Paintings
Archival Pigment
1890s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Board
1910s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
Mid-19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Early 20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Parchment Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
Late 20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1920s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Board
1880s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel, Varnish