Realist 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.
Style: Realist
Color: Blue
Mallard Ducks in Pond with Lily Pads, Horizontal Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Brightly colored and crisply detailed painting of a group of mallard ducks resting on stones on a calm lake, their dappled reflections beautifully rendered on the electric blue water...
Category
Late 20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Waves, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Lyrical painting of the ocean, perfect for a coastal home or any one who loves water. Painted on stretched canvas and ready to hang. Frame is not includ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Aqua, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Landscape with a high azure sea or ocean wave. Surf, sea foam, splashes, freshness, ocean shore, beach, azure. Large interior picture. Oil on a gallery canvas, signed and dated o...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Grey House. Oil on canvas. Signed.
Located in Paris, FR
Raf Peeters is a Belgian artist represented by Boycott Gallery.
Category
Early 2000s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Pink mountain acrylic paint on board landscape
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Acrylic on paper laid board.
Born in Valencia but with German and Mediterranean roots, his artistic work has been focused on exhibitions around the idea of "landscape", within a f...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Board, Acrylic
"Emerald Anchor, " Oil painting
By Judd Mercer
Located in Denver, CO
Judd Mercer's (US based) "Emerald Anchor," is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts the green shore of land that casts a reflection of its emeral...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Bayou, Original Acrylic Painting, 2019
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary:
I visited a Bayou once in Louisiana on a boat. I tried to capture that moment here...
Keywords: Landscape, Swamp, Serene, dusk, twilight, bird, blue
Artist Biogr...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Canvas
Legion Bridge, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
A sunny day in Prague. Clouds move silently over the gentle water of the Vltava river. The bridge was built between 1899 – 1901 and replaced the earlier Francis I Chain Bridge (bui...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Bacharach on the Rhine, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Bacharach is a charming small town with generous people, historic old buildings, and cobblestone streets. Wine tasting is like a local sport here. It is a painting waiting to be pa...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Winter Island, Original Landscape Painting, 2016
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary:
My painting studio is cold.
It's January/February in Massachusetts.
So I painted a cold picture...
Keywords: Winter, Island, Snow, Trees, snow, lake, ice, refle...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Canvas
Crucifixion
Located in Spetses, GR
Original artwork by Katerina Hatzi, signed at the bottom right corner. Certificate of authenticity provided by the gallery.
The recurring water motif is...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Breaking the waves
Located in Spetses, GR
Original artwork by Katerina Hatzi, ready to hang. Certificate of authenticity provided by the gallery.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Clustered Pots
Located in Deddington, GB
Clustered pots by Jonquil Williamson [2022]
original
Oil Paint on Canvas
Image size: H:60 cm x W:70 cm
Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:60 cm x W:70 cm x D:2cm
Frame Size: H:67.5 c...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Mount Earnslaw, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This is a scene of Mount Earnslaw from New Zealand. The photos were taken by an artist who lives there and whom I've learned a lot about painting from. It's an impressive landscape...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Glass, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
My still life paintings vary from lively decorative colorful compositions to thoughtful studies of reality. I rip objects out of their context and put them to new context. Here they ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Cadaques view Spain seascape oil on canvas painting
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Frame size 54x46 cm.
Josep Maria Vayreda Canadell
Year of birth: 1932
Biography:
Member of a family spanish saga of artists, which highlighted Joaquim Vayreda, founder of the so-cal...
Category
1990s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Composition with balls, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
My still life paintings vary from lively decorative colorful compositions to thoughtful studies of reality. I rip objects out of their context and put them to new context. Here they ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Tropicana, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
I have always loved old signs. My designer brain flips out when I see vintage neon signs. So, I am working on a collection of work that embodies those amazing, old neon signs...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Bowl, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
I have always loved old signs. My designer brain flips out when I see vintage neon signs. So, I am working on a collection of work that embodies those amazing, old neon signs...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Car Wash, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
I have always loved old signs. My designer brain flips out when I see vintage neon signs. So, I am working on a collection of work that embodies those amazing, old neon signs...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Crown Car Wash, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
I have always loved old signs. My designer brain flips out when I see vintage neon signs. So, I am working on a collection of work that embodies those amazing, old neon signs...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Modern Times VI
Located in Nashville, TN
"Modern Times VI" is an acrylic-on-canvas painting from a small series by Cuban artist Carlos Gamez de Francisco. Done at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, this series of portraits depicts only the top half of the female subjects' faces to reflect how people see each other while wearing masks. The artist emphasizes the face by depicting the subject's features, specifically their eyes, in precise detail against blank, monotone backgrounds.
"Modern Times VI" depicts a young woman with light-brown curls and an ornate antique silver headpiece...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Canvas
Wartime Airplane Painting, "Fear of Flying 1"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original oil painting by San Diego artist, Perry Vàsquez. Its dimensions are 50x 16. Please note this painting is not wired and h...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
The Dance, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By David Sipko
Located in Yardley, PA
I live in an area that has many Egrets visiting in the summer. This is a snowy egret walking the shoreline for a meal. They are a performance art all to their own. This piece is f...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Marimekko Ducks, Oil Canvas, American Art, Realism, Tchotskes Quirky Objects
Located in Houston, TX
Marimekko Ducks is 20 x 20 inches oil on canvas. .Maureen likes to use Marimekko fabrics in many of her paintings.
Randi Hopkins, former assistant curator at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, has called O’Connor “a masterful painter of some of our favorite things.”
A pair of ceramic ducks...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Snow Henge, Lee Tiller, Original Painting, Winter Landscape Art, Affordable Art
By Lee Tiller
Located in Deddington, GB
Snow Henge [2021]
original
Oil on stretched canvas
Image size: H:60 cm x W:80 cm
Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:60 cm x W:80 cm x D:2cm
Sold Unframed
Please note that insitu image...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
TRANQUILLITY XX, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
A large contemporary gallery wrapped canvas, the painted image is extended around the edges so no additional framing is necessary. Supplied ready to hand. Painted with professiona...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Boat on the river bank. Oil on cardboard, 50x35 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Boat on the river bank. Oil on cardboard, 50x35 cm
Category
Early 2000s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
Infinite Garden #9, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This is an abstract floral statement piece of art. It represents flowers in an abstract form. Inspiration was found in a beautiful lush flower garden, in the Summer with blooming hyd...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Coral Garden (Ocean)- oil on canvas, made in white, blue colors
Located in Fort Lee, NJ
The artwork show the incredible beauty of coral reefs, strives to increase the awareness of the fragility of the underwater world and prevent coral bleaching happening due to climate change.
Nikolina Kovalenko received her MFA from Moscow Surikov Art Institute in 2011 and studied at Universität der Künste Berlin. She holds a Gold Medal from the Russian Art Academy. The artist currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Nikolina is interested in humanity’s philosophical connection with Nature and strives to expose the consequences our everyday actions have on the environment. Her work explores the symbolism of textures found in Nature, magnifying the mundane and transforming it into the sublime. Kovalenko works with fragile ecosystems creating artwork inspired by locations specific to each project. Her subjects range from global warming, deforestation and coral bleaching, to processing and interpreting visual landscape and cultural associations.
Her exhibition history includes an exhibition at The Russian Museum (Saint Peterburg, Russia), solo shows at Gitana Rosa Gallery and Dacia Gallery. The group shows include Cheryl Hazan Contemporary, Mayson Gallery, Select Art Fair, 212 Arts...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"The Winding Path" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Rob Alexander's "The Winding Path" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a dirt foot path snaking its way through the green foothills with large fluffy clouds in the bac...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Wood Panel, Oil
"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 Paintings
Materials
Board, Acrylic
"Magic Pika I" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Sarah Becktel's "Magic Pika I" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a small wild rodent opening its mouth so that a rainbow can arch from it.
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Panel, Oil
Contemporary Realistic Painting, "Good Day Sunshine"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is a one of a kind original painting by local San Diego artist, Bronle Crosby. Its dimensions are 48 x 48 x 2.75. It is unframed.
This large scale oil on canvas painting depic...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Endless Rhythms" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Rob Alexander's "Endless Rhythms" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a blue waves restless crashing and churning.
This painting is currently unframed but will come ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Panel, Oil
"Over the Pass" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Rob Alexander's "Over the Pass" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts an arctic landscape where a mysterious castle perched on a snowy mount...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Panel, Oil
"The Abraham Rydberg at Full Sail”, ocean-going Clipper, original oil on canvas
Located in Nutfield, Surrey
Alfred Collin (1880-1944).
Alfred Collin was a Swedish impressionist landscape and marine painter. Like many of his Scandinavian contemporaries he ...
Category
20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Board, Oil
Vienna, Original Watercolor Painting
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Stephen Scott Young
Title: Vienna
Medium: Watercolor on Paper
Year: 1983
Signed: Inscribed Bottom Left and Signed Back of Paper
Dimensions: Unframed 13.5 x 7 Framed 18.5 x 17...
Category
1830s Realist Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Paper
Luminescent Waves with Seagulls, Realist Ocean Seascape by Michael Protiva
Located in Soquel, CA
Stunning realist seascape of luminescent waves with seagulls by Michael Protiva (American, 20th Century), 1981. The electric blue waves flow and crash ...
Category
1980s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Angel In Blue - Oil Acrylic Figurative Colors Ivory Blue White Green
Located in Sofia, BG
"Angel In Blue" is a modern art line painting by Maestro Dimitar Voynov -Junior,
About the artwork:
TECHNIQUE: Acrylic, oil on canvas painting
STYLE: Realistic, Contemporary
Edi...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Lysander
Located in Nutfield, Surrey
Leigh Murphy
This original work of art by the award-winning watercolour and oil painter Leigh Murphy wonderfully illustrates her super realist technique...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
"Tranquility" Oil Painting
By Mia Bergeron
Located in Denver, CO
Mia Bergeron's (US based) "Tranquility" is an oil painting that depicts a lone white bowl filled with pomegranate seeds sitting with a halved pomegranate on a white surface.
Mia Be...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Linen, Panel
"Ocean II, " Coastal Oil Painting
Located in Westport, CT
This original oil painting depicts a rolling wave crashing onto an ocean shoreline. The viewer has the view of the wave from an angle, with the wave running the length of the paintin...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Linen
"Big Sky" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Andrzej Skorut's (US based) "Big Sky" is an oil painting that depicts clouds looming over the vast plains with distant mountains.
Bio/artist statement:...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Inside Passage, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
A trio of Orcas make their way through the Inside Passage, east of Vancouver Island, with the Coast Range in the background. :: Painting :: Realism :: This piece comes with an offici...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Cardboard Airplane, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
By Amy Bernays
Located in Yardley, PA
This is the airplane that my son made. He painted it and the tooth picks that he used for the front on the wings are marvelous. I love the amateur materials applied to the greatly ma...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Trousers - XXI Century, Contemporary Figurative Oil Painting, Minimalistic
Located in Warsaw, PL
Tomasz Kozlowski is a Polish artist, born in 1983 in Piotrkow Trybunalski, He lives and works in Lodz. He studied at the faculty of textiles and fashion of the Fine Arts School in Lo...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Stardust" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Sara Scribner's (US based) "Stardust" is an oil painting that depicts a realistic portrait of a feminine form in profile wearing blue in a blue interior ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Panel, Oil
"Pool and Forest" Small landscape with blue swimming pool in bottom half
Located in Wellesley, MA
"Pool and Forest" Oil on Canvas, 18 x 14 Inches, is a small landscape with lush green foliage in the top half and a bright blue swimming pool dominating the bottom half. Reminisc...
Category
1980s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Slow Glide, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
A lone Orca cruises Indian Arm, near Vancouver, BC. Just theee colors were employed in the creation of this painting: Theo Violet, Pthalo Blue, and Cadmium Yellow. :: Painting :: Rea...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Open Water, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Five Orcas, including a calf, ply the waters of the Salish Sea. There are only seventy-three Orcas remaining in the Salish Sea and a baby is a are occurrence. :: Painting :: Realism ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Under The Radar, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
A pod of Orcas scan Vancouver's Burrard Inlet in the pursuit of their favorite meal, Chinook Salmon :: Painting :: Realism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authent...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
"Starburst" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Sara Scribner's (US based) "Starburst" is an oil painting that depicts a realistic portrait of a feminine form in three quarters view wearing blue in a b...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Panel, Oil
Rainfores Dusk - oil on wood panel, made in blue, green, violet colors
Located in Fort Lee, NJ
Rainforest Dusk (exotic, tropic trees) - oil on wood panel, made in blue, green, violet colors.
Nikolina Kovalenko received her MFA from Moscow Surikov Art Institute in 2011 and studied at Universität der Künste Berlin. She holds a Gold Medal from the Russian Art Academy. The artist currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Nikolina is interested in humanity’s philosophical connection with Nature and strives to expose the consequences our everyday actions have on the environment. Her work explores the symbolism of textures found in Nature, magnifying the mundane and transforming it into the sublime. Kovalenko works with fragile ecosystems creating artwork inspired by locations specific to each project. Her subjects range from global warming, deforestation and coral bleaching, to processing and interpreting visual landscape and cultural associations.
Her exhibition history includes an exhibition at The Russian Museum (Saint Peterburg, Russia), solo shows at Gitana Rosa Gallery and Dacia Gallery. The group shows include Cheryl Hazan Contemporary, Mayson Gallery, Select Art Fair, 212 Arts...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Wood Panel, Oil
"Cherry Creek" Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Andrzej Skorut's (US based) "Cherry Creek" is an oil painting that depicts clouds looming over the vast plains with distant mountains in the background....
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Setauket Harbor
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Oil painting of a Long Island seascape. A calm bay plays host to a variety of small boats, anchored still in their slots. The horizon is met with distant land, green trees flank eith...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Panel, Oil
Memory. 2003, canvas, acrylic, 80x90 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Memory. 2003, canvas, acrylic, 80x90 cm
Portrait of couple with temple on the background
Igor Leontiev (1957) - one of the leading independent pai...
Category
Early 2000s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic, Canvas
"Afternoon Cala Molto", Oil on canvas of underwater swimmers, cool tones
Located in Dallas, TX
"Afternoon Cala Molto" is a stunning oil on canvas by Patsy McArthur, showing a couple underwater swimmere surrounded by refreshing, cool turquoise green water and stunning reflectio...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Realist paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Realist 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 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 Michael Budden, Su Yu, Olga Antonova, and Mark Hunter. 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 paintings, so small editions measuring 0.5 inches across are also available.
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