Realist Portrait 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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Late 18th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas, Acrylic
Early 1900s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Late 19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Wood Panel
Mid-20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Paper, Oil
20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Acrylic, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
Mid-18th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil, Panel
1880s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 1900s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1920s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1890s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 1900s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1920s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1920s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1910s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1880s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1920s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 1900s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1910s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1950s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1960s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
Early 1900s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1930s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Pen
Early 1900s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Early 1900s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
1920s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil
20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1910s Realist Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1910s Realist Portrait Paintings
Oil