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.
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Style: Realist
"Ensemble of Austrian artists"
Located in Edinburgh, GB
Franz Rotter (1900–1944) – "Ensemble of Austrian Artists"
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 176 x 288 cm (unframed), 181 x 295 cm (framed)
Signature: Lower left corner
Provenance: Pr...
Category
20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Teapot & Oranges, Still-life, Italian artist, Florence, Realism, Oil Painting.
Located in Houston, TX
Teapot and Oranges is an oil painting done in the style of Realism in the artist studio in Florence, Italy. It has a custom frame made in Florence by a master framer.
Barbara Castru...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Ready to Roll" (2022) By Timothy J. Standring, Original Still-Life Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Though small in scale, Timothy James Standring’s oils and watercolors pierce the assumed poetics both media aspire to express. Over the past decade, Standring has brought a gimlet-ey...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Gesso, Oil
"Mighty Ocean" Oil Painting by Montague Dawson (British, 1890-1973)
Located in New York, NY
Montague Dawson
(British, 1890-1973)
Mighty Ocean
oil on canvas
signed Montague Dawson (lower left); titled and inscribed (on the stretcher)
24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4cm)
Provenance...
Category
20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Austrian Judaica Portrait of Hasidic Rabbi Oil Painting
By M Wysocki
Located in Surfside, FL
Realistic portrait of an older rabbi by Polish Austrian artist M. Wysocki. Here the artist conveys a sense of quiet grandeur through the eyes of his subject and the way it's rendered. Part of a distinguished European lineage of Jewish genre artists who depicted judaic scenes sensitively and with a sense of quiet dignity. Lazar Krestin, Isidor Kaufmann...
Category
20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
"Nesting, " French 19th c Realist, Louvre Museum, Charming Small Oil of Chickens
Located in Wiscasset, ME
Born in 1813 in Paris, Charles Emile Jacque began his training in etching as an apprentice to a map engraver. By 1833 he was painting and debuted at the Paris Salon and contributed r...
Category
19th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood Panel
Bouquet. 1995, oil on canvas, 49, 5x72 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Bouquet. 1995, oil on canvas, 49,5x72 cm
Category
1990s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
$731 Sale Price
34% Off
Italian Roses, Oil Painting On Linen Style of Realism, Florence, framed
Located in Houston, TX
White Roses is painted in the Realist style which the artists acquired when she studied at the Florence Academy of Art.
Frame included at no cost. Other paintings by Melissa Sanche...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
$1,680 Sale Price
20% Off
Listen, Shell, oil painting on copper, Style of Realism, Florence, Sound of Sea
Located in Houston, TX
Listen is inspired by the moment you put your ear to a shell and hear the sound f the sea. If you are silent and close your eyes and believe, you may hear it. The Painting is experi...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Copper
Marble Sundae (Framed Super Realist Still Life Oil Painting)
Located in New Orleans, LA
A charming little realist painting of marbles in a sundae glass. Turned up in our inventory, new and never owned. Custom framed and ready to hang. Measu...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Arrangement XVII, Realist Oil Painting
By Zane York
Located in Chicago, IL
Zane York deftly walks the line between playfulness and profundity. Drawing inspiration from the inherent strangeness of the natural world, York imbues quotidian scenes with subtle e...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Rural road. Cardboard, oil, 50x60 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Rural road. Cardboard, oil, 50x60 cm
Category
Mid-20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
$757 Sale Price
20% Off
The lakeshore. 1972, oil on cardboard, 30x35 cm
Located in Riga, LV
The lakeshore. 1972, oil on canvas end board, 30x35 cm
Alfejs Bromults (1913.3.IV - 1991.11.I)
His first professional education was at National Unive...
Category
1970s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
$925 Sale Price
51% Off
Reflections from a Kayak, Original Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Mulberry Creek flows into the Rappahannock River in eastern Virginia. In the stillness of the afternoon, the reflection of reeds and trees on the water dissolve...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Dust in the Wind
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
Original oil painting signed by the artist on the lower right corner.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
"Roses" Contemporary Dutch Fine Realist Still-Life Painting of Pink Roses
Located in Utrecht, NL
During his successful career as a goldsmith the desire to paint grew on Dutch artist René Smoorenburg (1954). The attention to detail, which was of great importance in his work as a ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Hill 1967, paper/watercolor, 30.5x43 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Hill
1967, paper/watercolor, 30.5x43 cm
Herberts Mangolds (1901-1978)
Graphic, army officer.
In 1920 he graduated from the Artillery Cadet School of Latvian and many military cours...
Category
1960s Realist Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
$227 Sale Price
20% Off
Children Fishing by a River with Wild Flowers & Farmhouse in English Countryside
Located in Preston, GB
Children Fishing by a Riverside with Wild Flowers & Farmhouse in the English Countryside by British Artist, Les Parson
Art measures 20 x 16 inches
Frame measures 28 x 24 inches
Thi...
Category
1980s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Sea Coast. 1958, canvas, oil, 50x70 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Sea Coast. 1958, canvas, oil, 50x70 cm
Category
1950s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
$663 Sale Price
30% Off
Trees in a Meadow by Media Pennsylvania Artist Charles Lewis Fussell
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Charles Lewis Fussell
(American, 1840–1909)
Trees in a Meadow
Oil on canvas, 12 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches
FRAMED: 18 x 13 1/2 inches (approx.)
Fussell probably painted this work sometime b...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
FORGET ME NOT. Oil on canvas, Floral, Abstract realism, Square, Blue
Located in Oslo, NO
It's a square (20 cm by 20 cm ) oil on a stretched canvas still life painting .
There we can see a bunch of beautiful blue Forget Me Not flowers in a clear glass vase and light back...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Summer day in the old town
Located in Oslo, NO
The painting depicts a corner of an old European city on a hot summer day. The sun illuminates the ground and the roof tiles almost to whiteness. The wall of an ancient cathedral and...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
NYC Oil Painting Michael Budden Nocturne Street Scene "Night Life" Am. Flag
Located in Chesterfield, NJ
Night Life, NYC
oil/panel
14 x 11 image size
19.5 x 16.5 framed
An oil painting on canvas panel by award winning contemporary artist Michael Budden that showcases the bustling "Night...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
$1,280 Sale Price
20% Off
The Cardinal's Visit
Located in Madrid, ES
SALVADOR SÁNCHEZ BARBUDO
Spanish, 1857 - 1917
THE CARDINAL'S VISIT
signed, located and dated "Barbudo / ROMA 1902" (lower right)
oil on canvas
22 x 33-2/3 inches (55.5 x 85.5 cm.)
framed: 36-1/2 x 48-1/4 inches (92.5 x 122.5 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Munich
LITERATURE
Visita con el cardenal combines the two most salient characteristics of Sánchez-Barbudo's work: the search for novelty of theme and narrative content, and the use of minutely detailed brushwork and luminosity. Sánchez-Barbudo specialised in elaborate 'costume pictures', delighting the viewer with impressive details finely rendered with dazzling technical virtuosity.
Here, Sánchez-Barbudo depicts a well-to-do bourgeois family receiving a cardinal in their home. The interior, sumptuously furnished in the rococo style, along with the rich costumes and fabrics, are beautifully observed. Yet beyond the high technique lavished upon the composition, the treatment is comic and full of character and suffused with a gently satirising anti-clericalism.
The cardinal, far from getting the attention he expects, is, literally, sidelined, his expression and body language showing his pique. There is no doubt that contemporary collectors and spectators took pleasure in the sight of noble self-respecting figureheads of the church being brought back down to earth. The comedy was appealing, and the message suited the prevailing political mood of an increasingly secular middle-class buying public.
Salvador Sánchez Barbudo was born on March 14, 1857 in Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz). He was one of the most important Spanish artists of the "casacón" genre, who followed the Fortuny tradition in Rome. During his childhood he was under the protection of the Marquis del Castillo and in 1875 he moved to Seville where he attended the School of Fine Arts, becoming a disciple of José Villegas...
Category
Early 1900s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
The sound of a distant train
Located in Oslo, NO
The painting depicts a night interior, the main place in which is occupied by a wardrobe with mirrored doors. Each door reflects its own world. The left door reflects the hero's bed,...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
New York, New York (Downtown Manhattan Oil Painting)
Located in New Orleans, LA
For lovers of the Big Apple, a scene that really captures the pulse of the city! Original acrylic on canvas. Proudly presented by Guy Lyman Fine Art...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
$780 Sale Price
20% Off
Orchard in Bloom, Mid Century Spring Blossoms Landscape Watercolor by Jay Simm
Located in Soquel, CA
Lovely pastoral landscape of beautiful spring blossoms lining a quiet country lane by Jay Simm (American, 20th Century), c. 1960s. The delicate light pink flowers of the orchard in b...
Category
1960s Realist Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
The Window Sill
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This still life by Stephen Scott Young stands out in the artist’s oeuvre in that Young is most known for his luminous portraits of African Americans or native Bahamians. Nonetheless,...
Category
Late 20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Watercolor
Margaret Crutchley, Cedar of Lebanon at Sunset, Tree Art, Sunset Painting
Located in Deddington, GB
Cedar of Lebanon at Sunset By Margaret Crutchley [2021]
original
Acrylic on a deep canvas
Image size: H:50 cm x W:50 cm
Complete Size of Unframed Wor...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Indirect - Contemporary abstract realism, female form on a peach background
By Erin Cone
Located in Dallas, TX
Known for her bold visionary take on figurative realism, Erin Cone has twice been recognized in the national art press as one of the top young emerging artists in the country. After ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Chinese Contemporary Art by Su Yu - Flowers are Crying
By Su Yu
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas
Su Yu is a Chinese artist born in 1987 who lives & works in Beijing in China. He was an old student of prestigious art teachers as Shi Liang & Chen Danqing at Oil Pain...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$36,000 Sale Price
20% Off
The Traveler Oil A Journey Florence Academy Oil Sunny or a Chaotic Storm
Located in Houston, TX
Samuel S.Hoskins Statement on The Traveler :
I hold a deep appreciation for the motif of the traveler. I prefer to perceive my life as a narrative in which I play the role of a traveler. Much like in life itself, this journey involves navigating through various elements and facing the challenges that life presents. At times, the journey may be characterized by sunny and pleasant moments, while at other times, it might resemble a chaotic storm. Nevertheless, there is a profound beauty woven in it all.
The Traveler by Samuel Hoskins...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Linen
$3,280 Sale Price
20% Off
Anticipation, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
A vast grain field stretches beneath towering cloud formations, capturing the anticipation of an approaching storm. Clashing elements heighten the tension as re...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Sailboat in the night. 1989. Oil on cardboard, 65x50 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Sailboat in the night. 1989. Oil on cardboard, 65x50 cm
Category
1980s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
$1,373 Sale Price
20% Off
Wife portrait.Oil on cardboard, 110, 5x72, 5 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Wife portrait. Oil on cardboard, 110,5x72,5 cm
Alfejs Bromults (1913.3.IV - 1991.11.I)
His first professional education was at National University at studies to R.Suta, J. Bine and...
Category
1970s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
$4,545 Sale Price
20% Off
"Study for decoration Moscow metro station" Kievskaya Tempera, Real socialism
Located in Torino, IT
Real Socialism,Moscow,1970,Russia,Orange,Men at Work,Propaganda
VIKTOR A. KONOVALOV (Uidol, Vladimir region 1912 – Moscow 1995)
Russian painter and gr...
Category
1950s Realist Paintings
Materials
Paper, Tempera
Once More, Contemporary Art, Original Realist Style Sky Painting, Gilted Art
Located in Deddington, GB
Once More [2021]
Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look.
Once More is an original mixed media skyscape painting by Charlotte Elizabeth. The metallic details around the edges add depth to the work.
Charlotte Elizabeth has been working with paint professionally for over fifteen years. A prestigious training in theatre design preceded a busy career as a Theatrical Scenic Artist in London’s West End...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media, Acrylic, Canvas
"Water Bottle", Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Dianne L. Massey Dunbar's (US based) "Water Bottle" is an oil painting that depicts a Aquafina Water Bottle with an open lid in an interior setting.
A...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
The Essence of Life
Located in BARCELONA, ES
Hidden within the textured depths of this coffee bean are symbols that unfold like a visual narrative. On the left, a delicate leaf emerges, a symbol of growth and renewal. To the ri...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Light Warms the Cold" by Stephen Day, Original Colorado Landscape Painting
By Stephen Day
Located in Denver, CO
"Light Warms the Cold" by Stephen Day is an original oil painting depicting evergreen and aspen trees on a spring morning, resting across the ridge of a mountainside river stream.
St...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
"Veil of the Highlands" oil painting, mountain peaks in Europe, Scotland, framed
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Veil of the Highlands" is a realistic oil painting on linen. The painting depicts a scene of the Scottish Highlands. A grassy trail surrounded by boulders, leads our eye to a cloud ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Evening on a Surrey Common, original oil on canvas, British realist landscape
Located in Naples, Florida
This is a lovely oil on canvas painting of a warm evening on a Surrey common. This original painting is circa the 20th Century and is by the English Artist D...
Category
Early 1900s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Beth Parcell, "Scarlet Coat", 14x18 Equine Fox Hunt Hound Oil Painting
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
This vibrant and colorful piece, "Scarlet Coat", is a 14x18 equine oil painting on canvas featuring a red coated huntsman atop his dark brown horse in a green grassy field during a f...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Lady of the Lake, 2022
Located in Greenwich, CT
Lady of the Lake is an oil on panel painting, 23.5 xx 25.5" panel size, signed ‘HOFMANN’ lower right, and framed in a custom, contemporary, gold-leaf frame.
Douglas Hofmann’s works ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
Portrait of a Man - 19th Century Spanish Antique Oil on Panel Painting
Located in Sevenoaks, GB
A fine signed and dated 1880 Spanish oil on panel portrait of a man wearing a white shirt and waistcoat by Manuel Pla y Valor. The work is superbly ...
Category
1880s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Armenian Contemporary Art by Kamsar Ohanyan - The Beginning of the Fall
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on canvas
Kamsar Ohanyan is an Armenian artist born in 1991 who lives and works in Yerevan, Armenia. He studied in Yerevan at State Pedagogical University with Kh. Abovyan at th...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
La Marchande de Fleurs - French Realist Figurative Oil by Victor Gilbert
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed figurative oil on original canvas by French realist painter Victor Gabriel Gilbert. The work shows a flower seller filling a young girl's basket with cherries while a little b...
Category
1910s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
He'll Kill You Too
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary:
This is the second in a series of paintings about a cat that I inherited from my brother's ex-girlfriend. D.C. Rescue. He was tough little guy, and was always gett...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Linen
Road Around Capri, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italian Landscape, Island, Campania Region
Located in Grand Rapids, MI
Carlo Ciappa (Italian, 1890-1970)
Signed: A. Ciappa (Lower, Left)
" Road Around Capri ", circa 1960s
Oil on Canvas
23 1/2" x 34
Overall Size: 27" x 37"
Category
Mid-20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Flood in Venice
Located in Oslo, NO
The painting depicts a flood in Venice, the famous Acqua Alta, when during the sea tide, the canals overflow their banks, flooding the embankments and squares. At this time, the Vene...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Magic Realistic painting, "Counter Culture"
By Cheryl Tall
Located in San Diego, CA
This is an original mixed media work on canvas by Southern California artist, Cheryl Tall. Its dimensions are 40" x 30" x 1.5". A certificate of authenticity will follow delivery.
...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Mixed Media
Walking in the night, the magic of Tokio
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this painting, I've captured the mesmerizing allure of city lights, contrasting vibrantly against the contemplative solitude of a lone figure immersed in the night. Utilizing the...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Composition with jars and fruit. Realistic Oil painting still-life Bright colors
Located in Segovia, ES
Composition with jars and fruit. Realistic Oil painting still-life Bright colors.
Oil on panel by Spanish artist Álvaro Toledo.
Measurements in centimeters: 44 x 71 x 1 cm / Framed...
Category
1990s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
Countryside. 1950s, cardboard, oil, 26x37 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Countryside. 1950s, cardboard, oil, 26x37 cm
Alfejs Bromults (1913.3.IV - 1991.11.I)
His first professional education was at National University at s...
Category
1950s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
$435 Sale Price
20% Off
Mood. 1999., paper, watercolor, 28x40 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Mood. 1999., paper, watercolor, 28x40 cm
Oskars Berzins (1940)
Category
1990s Realist Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Radicchio, food still life, purple on grey, super realistic painting
Located in Brooklyn, NY
The artist describes this work:
"Inspired by a head of Radicchio in our local market. The white veins crossing through the maroon really caught my eye and needed to be captured in o...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Viktoria
Located in Oslo, NO
The portrait depicts a girl of such perfect natural beauty that the work goes beyond the portrait of a specific person and represents an archetypal generalized image of femininity as...
Category
Early 2000s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Late Summer, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Late summer on a river in Vermont, the trees are toning down, ready to show their autumn colors.The river flows slowly, there is a bit of a chill in the air. :: Painting :: Realism :...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
La Sugerencia (The Suggestion) - Surreal River Scene with Crystal Clear Water
Located in Chicago, IL
***This artwork is currently on exhibit at the Instituto Cervantes, Chicago until September 2025. If purchased this artwork will be available to ship after September 1, 2025. Contact the gallery with questions.
Cuban born “Pozas” is a self-educated artist. After completing his studies in Electrical...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
The Popcorn
Located in Zofingen, AG
This painting presents a sophisticated visual paradox: a woman dressed in the refined style of a 17th-century portrait — black dress, lace collar, white bonnet — is interrupted by un...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
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.