Realist 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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Artist Comments
A woman sits on a bench, sipping her drink, outside of St. Mark’s Coffee & Tea in the East Village. The cafe’s red facade contrasts with the subdued urban e...
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Oil
1870s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Egg Tempera
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
20th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Board
Mid-20th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Board
19th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
1870s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1920s Realist Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
2010s Realist Paintings
Paper, Emulsion, Lithograph
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1880s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1990s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1870s Realist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
20th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
Mid-19th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Mid-20th Century Realist Paintings
Ink, Watercolor
1980s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Linen, Oil
1980s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1930s Realist Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Silver, Gold Leaf
2010s Realist Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Realist Paintings
Acrylic, Cotton Canvas
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Realist Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil, Linen, Wood Panel
1830s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
1980s Realist Paintings
Watercolor, Archival Paper
Early 19th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1980s Realist Paintings
Oil, Board
1890s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
"This work is a representation of the unadorned beauty of nature," shares artist Jose Luis Bermudez. The clear blue sky stre...
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
1890s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Oil
1890s Realist Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Lacquer
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil, Tempera, Wood Panel
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 2000s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
1830s Realist Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Two modern buildings, one raw sienna, and the other white, stand side by side against a deep blue sky. The daylight in the background contrasts with the struc...
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil, Panel
17th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Realist Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil, Linen
Late 20th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
1980s Realist Paintings
Acrylic, Paper
2010s Realist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Oil, Linen
Late 20th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Early 2000s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil