Realist Portrait Paintings
REALIST STYLE
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.
Find authentic realist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
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Style: Realist
Contemporary painting with Mona Lisa "Spring"
Located in Zofingen, AG
Spring is coming, lilacs will bloom, and we'll be able to wear ripped jeans again. In creating this piece, I fused figurative elements and realism to capture a moment, timeless yet i...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
"Worship" (2020) By Timur Akhriev, Original Realist Gouache Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Timur Akhriev's (US and EU based) "Worship" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a lone nude female figure kneeling on a bed of lily pads with pink flowers and bent over as if worshiping, with deteriorating structures in the background and a seagull flying overhead.
Born in Vladikavkaz, the territory where Southern Russia meets Chechnya in 1983, Timur lived with his family until moving from the region during the conflict of 1991. After moving to St. Petersburg Timur began attending the St. Petersburg Iagonson Fine Art School at the age of twelve, where many of the professors studied at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts.
After graduation in 2002, Timur immigrated to Chattanooga Tennessee...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Paper, Gouache
"Fire Starter" Oil Painting by Karen Offut, Male Portrait
By Karen Offutt
Located in Denver, CO
Karen Offutt's (US based) "Fire Starter" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a male portrait with his face in profile wearing a fur coat in a cold winter landscape. Th...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Contemporary portrait "A Glass of Milk"
Located in Zofingen, AG
This piece embodies the serene connection between beings and the simplicity of life's pleasures. I've infused realism with symbolism to capture the figural bond between the human and...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Contemporary portrait "Inside the Painting"
Located in Zofingen, AG
When I gaze upon old paintings, it feels like a journey through time. Every brushstroke, color, and expression tells a vivid story, immersing me in the atmosphere of days gone by. It...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Like That But Not Exactly
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure
Ships in a well-protected tube
This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy.
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gallery)
About Artist
Born in 1991 in the Western Ugandan town of Fort Portal, Switzin Twikirize...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
$3,200 Sale Price
20% Off
Coral Veil-original impressionism female figurative painting-contemporary Art
Located in London, Chelsea
This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. "Coral Veil" by Kelly-Anne Cairns transports viewers into a wor...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
He Knows
Located in Burlingame, CA
'He Knows' features the beautiful face of a boy with down syndrome encircled with lace and shrouded in dignified mystery. The small painting is 7 x 5 1/2 inches, framed 8 3/4 x 7 1/4...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Wood, Oil
Contemporary portrait "Travel Companion"
Located in Zofingen, AG
The memory of the festive Coca-Cola commercial came to mind, where a truck adorned with holiday lights rushes along the night road.
There's no festive truck...
Only the night and the...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Girl with the Chimera Tattoo
Located in Zofingen, AG
Another wonderful example from a series of morning portraits by Evgeniy Monahov, where subtle realistic detailing of the face is accompanied by a colorful and impressionistically pai...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Contemporary portrait "Holiday dress"
Located in Zofingen, AG
I would like to wear an evening dress and go to a restaurant to celebrate the New Year. I would like to...
In this painting, I crafted a narrative of elegance and joy. The radiant fi...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Resurrection
Located in Burlingame, CA
'Resurrection' features the head of a reclining young reddish blond haired women wearing a cloak of lady bugs. It is 6 x 8 inches, unframed, wired and ready to hang. Condition excell...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
Self
By Karen Offutt
Located in Denver, CO
"Self," is an original oil painting by Karen Offutt. It is unframed, but ready-to-hang.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
$720 Sale Price
20% Off
The Happiness of Each Flower, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
A girl carries freshly picked daisies as she walks through a meadow. The beauty of the flowers, the clear sky, and her presence convey peace and a deep connec...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
Contemporary portrait "Together"
Located in Zofingen, AG
The memory of the festive Coca-Cola commercial came to mind, where a truck adorned with holiday lights rushes along the night road.
There's no festive truck...
Only the night and the...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Portrait of a Rock
Located in Storrs, CT
Freeman Baldridge's landscape painting, "Portrait of a Rock." The painting featured a rock on the slope of a hillside covered in wildflowers; the eye...
Category
1960s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
$1,200 Sale Price
40% Off
Selfie with Banksy Art
Located in Zofingen, AG
Once, people lived in this house. Then a russian missile landed there. After that, Banksy arrived and painted a gymnast on the ruins. Now, there is probably no trace of that building...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Contemporary portrait "In the Wood"
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this painting, I've interwoven the essence of the human spirit with the untamed beauty of the natural world. Using acrylics, I captured a moment of silent contemplation, enveloped...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Gavin - grey, yellow, young male, figurative, portrait, oil, collage on canvas
Located in Bloomfield, ON
This collage and mixed media portrait by Dan Hughes captures a moment in the young life of a child. Realistically rendered the figure is framed in warm grey, pale blue and yellow.
...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Paper, Oil, Acrylic
Innocent Love
Located in Burlingame, CA
'Innocent Love' is a masterfully painted oil on panel, that features a young topless woman with a tattoo on her arm that read "kiss my ass". She is draped in a blanket and holding a ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
"Girl In Thought" Young Chinese Girl
By Tong Luo
Located in San Antonio, TX
Lou Tong
Image Size: 24 x 20
Frame Size: 26.5 x 22.5
Medium: Oil
"Girl In Thought"
Biography
Tong Luo was born in Huai Yang, County of Henan Province, China, in 1969. He learned h...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
Portrait of "At Ease" by Emin Abbasov (b. 1950, Azerbaijan)
Located in SANTA FE, NM
Native American "Portrait of a Jolly Man"
Emin Abbasov (b. 1950, Azerbaijan)
Oil on cardboard, signed
5 7/8 x 3 3/4 (17 x 15 frame) inches
Emin Abbasov ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
Portrait of an Old Man, Modern Oil Painting by Sandu Liberman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Sandu Liberman, Romanian/American (1923 - 1977)
Title: Portrait of an Old Man
Year: circa 1970
Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed l.r.
Size: ...
Category
1970s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Edith 2" Oil Painting
By Jason Walker
Located in Denver, CO
Jason Walker's (CAN based) "Edith 2" is an oil painting that depicts a realistic portrait of a feminine face at three quarters view with a dark background
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Marie Channer, "Rusty", 14x11 Equine Portrait Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
This piece, "Rusty", is a 14x11 equine oil painting on canvas by artist Marie Channer. Featured is a cropped portrait of a dark brown horse's muzzle in the warm light of stable, illu...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Candescent" by Casey Childs, Oil Painting, Female Angel (2022)
By Casey Childs
Located in Denver, CO
Casey Childs' (US based) "Candescent" is an original, framed oil painting that depicts a female angel.
Artist Statement:
"My work as a whole encompasses an exploration of the human...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
Senses
By Karen Offutt
Located in Denver, CO
"Senses," is an original oil painting by Karen Offutt. It is unframed, but ready-to-hang.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Study of a woman's head
By Simon Kozhin
Located in Zofingen, AG
This is a full-scale sketch of a girl that I completed in a couple of hours while studying at the Academy of Painting. We did such tasks quite often to train our eye and hand for int...
Category
Early 2000s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
"Aurora" Acrylic Painting
By Julio Labra
Located in Denver, CO
Julio Labra's "Aurora" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a feminine face framed with curly hair and pink & blue tiled patterning.
Artist Biography:
Born in Idaho F...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Board
$180 Sale Price
20% Off
Portrait of a Bride - British 1934 Romantic art female portrait oil painting
Located in London, GB
This beautiful British 1930's portrait oil painting is by noted artist Frank Owen Salisbury or Frank O'Salisbury as he is also known. Painted in 1934, the composition is a half lengt...
Category
1930s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Entre Sueños" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Ximena Rendon's "Entre Sueños" is an original, handmade oil painting on aluminum panel that depicts two feminine models inside a bedroom with one appearing to be asleep.
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Boy with cigarette by Raffaelle Frigerio - Oil on wood 23x30 cm
Located in Geneva, CH
Signed work
Work on cardboard glued on a frame
Frame in golden plaster molding
46 x 37 x 5 cm
Raffaele Frigerio was an Italian painter born in 1875 and passed away in 1948. He was ...
Category
19th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
“Oh, there's a red viburnum in the meadow”
Located in Edinburgh, GB
A painting on historical themes.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Pistil
Located in Burlingame, CA
'Pistil' A young ladies body changing from childhood to adulthood along with caterpillar to butterfly. Her innocence is tarnished with a vine of thorns that surrounds her body. Condi...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Void / oil on wood panel
Located in Burlingame, CA
'Void' features the face of a young woman with ladybugs and intricately patterned queen's lace. The painting in red-orange, sea green and white and is 16 x 12 1/2 inches, unframed, w...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Wood, Oil
Portrait of a Girl in Red - Scottish 1900 Glasgow Girl art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This lovely Scottish Victorian portrait oil painting is by noted Scottish female artist Annie Rosie Laing. Laing grew up and studied art in Glasgow around the time of the Glasgow Girls...
Category
Early 1900s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Adhesive, Oil
$13,005 Sale Price
20% Off
Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /Museum
By Bruce Adams
Located in Buffalo, NY
Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is included in numerous private and museum collections, among them the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, and the UB Anderson Gallery (all of which are located in Western New York...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Linen
"A Mirror to Presence" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Ken Cunningham's "A Mirror to Presence" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a woman holding a red apple.
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
The GPS
Located in Zofingen, AG
I found myself at a magical place today, all thanks to a GPS error. It's something I never expected to discover in the midst of a bustling metropolis.
Interestingly, many new experi...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
"Les risques du métier" oil painting on canvas, 195x114 cm
Located in Saint Pol de Léon, Bretagne
Wink for the artist who loses the thread and its means. The tool escapes completely from the creator who becomes powerless in the face of a “hole” in his daily life as an artist....
...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
$15,604 Sale Price
20% Off
"Night Speed Skating, " Mix Media Drawing
Located in Denver, CO
Linda Tracey Brandon's (US based) "Night Speed Skating" is an mixed media drawing that depicts a black clad skater racing towards the foreground w...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media, Carbon Pencil
"For This From That Will Be Filled" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Ken Cunningham's "For This From That Will Be Filled" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts two women picking apples of green and red with the silhouette of a tree behind...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Portrait of a Woman and Infant in White - Oil on Canvas Natalie Wood
By Cindy Gin
Located in Soquel, CA
Portrait of a Woman and Infant in White - Oil on Canvas Natalie Wood
Elegant portrait of a woman and her newborn child (*Natalie Wood and Natasha) by Cindy Gin (Cindy Lin) (American...
Category
1990s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Irresolute" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Shelli Langdale's "Irresolute" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts the back of feminine figure looking at a painted self portrait contemplatively.
Artist Bio:
Shelli Langdale is an oil painter living and painting in Chattanooga, TN. U.S.A. She has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
"Family Recipe (Impossible Soup)" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Ximena Rendon's "Family Recipe (Impossible Soup)" is an original, handmade oil painting on aluminum panel that depicts two feminine models inside a kitchen with something cooking on ...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Ewa - XXI Century, Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Realism, Portrait
By Janusz Szpyt
Located in Warsaw, PL
Janusz Szpyt was born in 1960, he is a Polish painter. He graduated from the Graphic design faculty and painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. 1983 onward, he became the m...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
So Long / oil on wood - contemporary portrait woman red and bold
Located in Burlingame, CA
'So Long' a mysterious and fascinating portrayal of a young women standing inside of a ring of red flowers, in front of a heavy velvet gold and red drape, that is falling on either ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Wood, Oil
"Untitled" By Brian Busch, Original Realist Portrait, Oil Painting
By Brian Busch
Located in Denver, CO
Brian Busch's (US based) "Untitled" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a female model with short hair and a red jacket.
This is a secondary market work with one pre...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
"Wayfinding" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
"Wayfinding," is an original oil painting on 4 acrylic panels by Michelle Jader. It is framed and ready-to-hang.
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Portrait of Languid Girl in Blue Camisole 18th century Italian Rococo Master
Located in Stockholm, SE
Attributed to Pietro Antonio Rotari (1707 - 1762), Italian painter of the Rococo era. His portraits, mostly of women, are renowned for being beautiful and realistic. The details and ...
Category
Mid-18th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Wood, Oil
"Diana" Oil painting
Located in Denver, CO
Jodie Herrera's (US based) "Diana" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a dark haired woman with green and blue patterning that merges her form with the background.
A...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Wood, Oil
Genre scene Young street musician Early 20th century Austrian masterwork Framed
By Eduard Ansen-Hofmann (1862-1955)
Located in Stockholm, SE
Signed “E. Hofmann 24.IX 33” lower right. A touching family scene with a young street musician with flute and his caring sister. A gifted young ...
Category
Early 20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
Young Girl in a Pink Dress Leaning on a Table with a Vase of Pink Roses, English
Located in Grand Rapids, MI
Stephen Pearson (English, 1931 - 2003)
Signed: S. Pearson (Lower, Right)
" Young Girl in a Pink Dress Leaning on a Table with a Vase of Pink Roses ", circa 1979
Acrylic on Canvas
...
Category
Mid-20th Century Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
"Blaze, " Watercolor painting
Located in Denver, CO
Joanna Barnum's (US based) "Blaze" is an original, handmade watercolor painting that depicts a female red-headed model using a double exposure effect.
...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
$1,462 Sale Price
25% Off
"The Last Remaining Time, " Oil Painting
By Daire Lynch
Located in Denver, CO
Daire Lynch's "The Last Remaining Time" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a blonde haired feminine figure cast in red light with a dark ba...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
"Far Off Places, " Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Colin Poole's "Far Off Places" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a red headed feminine figure with clouds swirling in the background.
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
Grapeshot, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Artist David Shepherd paints a hyperrealistic portrait of a woman adorned with white flowers. "The eye is like a fingerprint, it uniquely identifies us," says...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil
"October" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Shelli Langdale's "October" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a feminine figure sitting cross-legged on a green pleated couch with a blue...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
"Untitled, " Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Sharon Pomales's (US based) "Untitled" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a female model with blonde hair.
This is a secondary market w...
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
"Hand 1" Acrylic Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Matthew Alfonso Durante's "Hand 1" is an original, handmade acrylic painting that depicts a pink hued hand in an unusual gesture with a dark background.
Category
2010s Realist Portrait Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Panel
Realist portrait paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Realist portrait paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add portrait paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, purple, orange, red and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Matt Talbert, Chikako Okada, Mark Beard, and Bruce Adams. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Realist portrait paintings, so small editions measuring 0.5 inches across are also available. Prices for portrait paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $180 and tops out at $885,000, while the average work sells for $3,600.
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