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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
Berries in a golden bowl
Berries in a golden bowl

Berries in a golden bowl

By Irina Trushkova

Located in Zofingen, AG

The scene is set with a quiet reverence—a simple golden bowl, brimming with the last treasures of the season. These are not just fruits; they are memories of sunlight, gathered and p...

Category

2010s Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Chinese Contemporary Art by Su Yu - The Ying-Yang Game in the Age
Chinese Contemporary Art by Su Yu - The Ying-Yang Game in the Age

Chinese Contemporary Art by Su Yu - The Ying-Yang Game in the Age

By Su Yu

Located in Paris, IDF

Oil on canvas Su Yu is a Chinese artist born in 1987 who lives and works in Beijing. He was an old student of prestigious art teachers as Shi Liang & Chen Danqing at Oil Paintin...

Category

2010s Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bely Bereg village, morning. 1995. Oil on canvas. 40/50 cm
Bely Bereg village, morning. 1995. Oil on canvas. 40/50 cm

Bely Bereg village, morning. 1995. Oil on canvas. 40/50 cm

Located in Riga, LV

Georgy Skripnichenko, born on November 12, 1940, in Mykolaiv, Ukrainian SSR, and passing in Minsk on August 12, 2015, was a Belarusian surrealist painter who also created realist wor...

Category

1990s Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Orientalist European painter - 19th century Egyptian landscape
Orientalist European painter - 19th century Egyptian landscape

Orientalist European painter - 19th century Egyptian landscape

Located in Varmo, IT

Orientalist painter (19th century) - Landscape with Travellers, Ruins and Pyramid. 37 x 48 cm (without frame) - 49 x 60 cm (with frame). Oil on canvas, in a carved and gilded woode...

Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Listed Artist Hewett Jackson Original Oil Painting  Tall Ship Seascape  Framed
Listed Artist Hewett Jackson Original Oil Painting  Tall Ship Seascape  Framed

Listed Artist Hewett Jackson Original Oil Painting Tall Ship Seascape Framed

By Hewett JACKSON

Located in Palm Coast, FL

Original Oil Painting by Listed Artist Hewett R. Jackson (1914–2007) – Sailing Ship at Sea Framed Maritime Seascape Signed Canvas Up for sale is a medium original oil painting on c...

Category

Late 20th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Oil

'Study of a Gray Horse', Rear View, Equine, Danish Realism
'Study of a Gray Horse', Rear View, Equine, Danish Realism

'Study of a Gray Horse', Rear View, Equine, Danish Realism

By Otto Bache

Located in Santa Cruz, CA

Initialed lower left, 'OB' for Otto Bache (Danish, 1839-1927) and painted circa 1910. Bache began his studies at the age of eleven under the painter Wilhelm Marstrand at the Royal D...

Category

1910s Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The ballet fairy
The ballet fairy

The ballet fairy

By Serghei Ghetiu

Located in Zofingen, AG

Through this oil painting, I captured the delicate strength and grace of a ballerina mid-movement. The realism and soft light embody her ethereal spirit and relentless passion. I wan...

Category

2010s Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Seascape with flag, nautical theme
Seascape with flag, nautical theme

Seascape with flag, nautical theme

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Masterful watercolor painting up Seascape with fence. Naturalistic colors, delicate brush work. With the Frame, this piece measures approximately 18” x 21“ PLEASE NOTE There is no ...

Category

2010s Realist Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

Winter Vignette
Winter Vignette

Winter Vignette

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist: Miguel Dominguez – American (1941-) Title: Winter Vignette Year: ca. 2000 Medium: Watercolor Image size: 14 x 22.5 inches. Framed size: 22.5 x 31.5 inches Signature: Signe...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Alone Together, Original Painting
Alone Together, Original Painting

Alone Together, Original Painting

By Emil Morhardt

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
A pair of sandhill cranes stand on opposite sides, their intense eyes seemingly watching each other's backs. Their stoic stance accentuates as the pond they inhabit fades into the grayish rainy mist of California's Central Valley in early winter. Rendered with a loose, watercolor-like technique, the birds' portrayal carries an expressive touch.


About the Artist
Emil Morhardt is an acrylic painter from Santa Barbara, California who expresses his passion for birds through realistic acrylic paintings. He paints at home in a studio room that has large windows and a north-facing view of the mountains. He observes the animals from this window, watching roadrunners, foxes, bobcats, deer, and coyote run by. Surrounded by this wildlife, Emil paints bird portraits reminiscent of those by artist John James Audubon. He bases his paintings off hundreds of photographs he takes of birds in the wild and at wildlife recovery centers. Emil captures the freedom and inquisitiveness that birds display...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic

Station Road
Station Road

Station Road

By Andrew Wyeth

Located in Greenville, DE

Original Andrew Wyeth watercolor, "Station Road," 19.5 x 27.5 inches. Painted on Tom Clark's property in Chadds Ford, PA. Thomas "Tom" Clark (1876-1962) was a farmer and resident of ...

Category

1960s Realist Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

St Ives Porthminster Beach, Angela Gordon-Webb, Original Seascape Painting
St Ives Porthminster Beach, Angela Gordon-Webb, Original Seascape Painting

St Ives Porthminster Beach, Angela Gordon-Webb, Original Seascape Painting

Located in Deddington, GB

Angela Gordon-Webb St Ives, Porthminster Beach Original Seascape Painting Acrylic Paint on Canvas Canvas Size: H 23cm x W 30cm Framed Size: H 46cm x W 52cm x D 3cm Sold Framed Please note that in situ images are purely an indication of how a piece may look. Porthminster Beach, St Ives through the window, an original seascape painting by Angela Webb. The bright turquoise tones of the sea are dispersed by the faint wisp of the window’s curtains...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Still Life Cabbage
Still Life Cabbage

Still Life Cabbage

By Elizabeth Osborne

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Elizabeth Osborne (b.1936). Still Life Cabbage, 1983. Watercolor on paper, sheet measures 22.5 x 30 inches; 29.5 x 37 inches in custom frame. Original Fischbach Gallery label affixed...

Category

1980s Realist Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

After the Rain...
After the Rain...

After the Rain...

By Nataliya Bagatskaya

Located in Zofingen, AG

The quiet after a recent rain sets the stage, revealing a tranquil landscape. A vintage convertible and a solitary figure by an ice machine evoke a nostalgic, timeless scene. This ar...

Category

2010s Realist Paintings

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

Nob Hill; San Francisco
Nob Hill; San Francisco

Nob Hill; San Francisco

By Michael Obermeyer

Located in Pasadena, CA

Provenance Acquired by the gallery directly from the artist Signed "Obermeyer" on lower left Artist Statement "During a recent stay in San Francisco, I had this gorgeous view of this beautiful city from my room. Mason Street glows as it heads up to Nob Hill...

Category

2010s Realist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Kittens at Play, Antique Animals Painting, Cats, Teddy Bear
Kittens at Play, Antique Animals Painting, Cats, Teddy Bear

Kittens at Play, Antique Animals Painting, Cats, Teddy Bear

Located in Grand Rapids, MI

Josef Heimerl (Austrian, 1867-1918) Signed: Jos. Heimerl (Lower, Right) " Kittens at Play ", circa 1900 Oil on Canvas 14 3/4" x 22 7/8" Housed in a 5 1/2" Ornamented Frame in Go...

Category

Early 20th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

A rough collie

A rough collie

Located in London, GB

A charming and sensitively rendered late 19th-century oil portrait of a Rough Collie, this work captures the breed's intelligence and gentle temperament with remarkable clarity. Indi...

Category

Late 19th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

British Chalk Pencil Sketch of a Portrait of a Detailed Cow's Face
British Chalk Pencil Sketch of a Portrait of a Detailed Cow's Face

British Chalk Pencil Sketch of a Portrait of a Detailed Cow's Face

By John Rabone Harvey

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

John Rabone Harvey ( 1966 - 1922) graphic and chalk deep green artist paper , unframed artist paper : 5.5 x 7 inches Provenance: private collection Condition: very good condition Ha...

Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Chalk, Graphite

Antique American Signed Coastal Landscape Hudson River School Framed Seascape
Antique American Signed Coastal Landscape Hudson River School Framed Seascape

Antique American Signed Coastal Landscape Hudson River School Framed Seascape

Located in Buffalo, NY

Antique American coastal seascape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Dated Framed. Measuring: 21 by 25 inches overall, and 12 by 16 painting alone. Excellent condition, ready to ...

Category

1890s Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of Lady in Ermine Stole - British 19th century art female oil painting
Portrait of Lady in Ermine Stole - British 19th century art female oil painting

Portrait of Lady in Ermine Stole - British 19th century art female oil painting

Located in Hagley, England

This wonderful 19th century interior portrait oil painting is attributed to the circle of Martin Archer Shee. It is a half-length portrait of a seated lady in a black silk dress, ermine stole and superb floral bonnet. It is a super realistic depiction of different textures - fur, silk and her beautiful face and hair. She is also holding her glasses, suggesting she is an educated woman who likes to read. A really magnificent portrait. The fur of the white winter ermine or stoat, with its trademark black tail-tip can often be seen in portraits of royalty...

Category

19th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Oil

French Painting Realist School Circle of FEYEN Shrimp Fisherwomen 19th
French Painting Realist School Circle of FEYEN Shrimp Fisherwomen 19th

French Painting Realist School Circle of FEYEN Shrimp Fisherwomen 19th

Located in PARIS, FR

French School 19th century (Circle of Eugène Feyen) Shrimp Fishers in Distress Oil on canvas 53 x 42 cm (65 x 55 cm with frame) Very good condition Beautiful giltwood frame with gadr...

Category

19th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Untitled (Smoke Tree; Palm Springs Desert), c. 1940s
Untitled (Smoke Tree; Palm Springs Desert), c. 1940s

Untitled (Smoke Tree; Palm Springs Desert), c. 1940s

By George Sanders Bickerstaff

Located in Pasadena, CA

Consigned to American Legacy Fine Arts, Pasadena, California; Private Collection, Pasadena, California; Mutual Savings, Pasadena, California — acquired presumably from the artist via an art consultant; Displayed at Mutual Savings headquarters, Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, California, c. 1965–1993 A 1955 photo showing Bickerstaff paintings on display at the same Mutual Savings and Loan office in Pasadena can be seen through the online resource at Pasadena Digital History Label on Verso Mutual Savings No. 3107 Description This luminous desert landscape, painted in rich yet delicately modulated tones, depicts California’s Palm Springs Desert with a scattering of smoke trees...

Category

1930s Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

19th Century Oil Painting Sussex Coast Fishermen Returning Maritime Scene
19th Century Oil Painting Sussex Coast Fishermen Returning Maritime Scene

19th Century Oil Painting Sussex Coast Fishermen Returning Maritime Scene

Located in Stockholm, SE

This captivating mid 19th century oil on canvas depicts a touching maritime scene along England's Sussex coast, renowned for its dramatic white chalk cliffs and centuries-old fishing...

Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Oil

Pair - Ornately framed Oval English River Flower Scenes with Swans, Cows, Sheep
Pair - Ornately framed Oval English River Flower Scenes with Swans, Cows, Sheep

Pair - Ornately framed Oval English River Flower Scenes with Swans, Cows, Sheep

Located in Preston, GB

Pair - Ornately framed Oval English River Flower Scenes with Swans, Cows, Sheep by British Contemporary Artist, David Morgan (Born 1964) Signed Originals, Oil on canvas. Framed in t...

Category

Late 20th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Paint, Wood, Cotton, Oil, Canvas

Pocket Persimmon Fruit by Dani Humberstone, Still life, Small Scale Oil Painting
Pocket Persimmon Fruit by Dani Humberstone, Still life, Small Scale Oil Painting

Pocket Persimmon Fruit by Dani Humberstone, Still life, Small Scale Oil Painting

Located in Deddington, GB

Pocket Persimmon Fruit by Dani Humberstone [2022] original and hand signed by artist Oil paint on canvas Image size: H:5 cm x W:5 cm Complete Size of Unframed Work: H:5 cm x W:5 cm x D:3cm Frame Size: H:16 cm x W:16 cm x D:3.5cm Sold Framed Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look Please note that insitu images are purely an indication of how a piece may look. Pocket Persimmon Fruit is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her pocket fruit series.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Hudson River School, Luminism Oil Painting After Thomas Moran Venice Boats
Hudson River School, Luminism Oil Painting After Thomas Moran Venice Boats

Hudson River School, Luminism Oil Painting After Thomas Moran Venice Boats

By (after) Thomas Moran

Located in Chesterfield, NJ

After Thomas Moran Harbor, Venice oil/canvas board signed LL 15.75 x 20 unframed, 24 x 28 framed Good original as purchased condition in what looks to be a period frame? Possibly original. Signature looks similar to others found online. The last two photos are of similar signatures from two paintings listed in Brunks Auction in 2025. Small dent, lower center, under the two black objects as seen in photo. Might benefit from a light professional cleaning. Purchased at Stair Auctions Also shown here is a similar venetian painting by Moran sold at Shannons Auctioneers 2022 for $162.500 which includes the premium showing a similar signature. Biography Thomas Moran was born 12 February 1837 in Bolton, England, not far from Manchester, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Several generations of the Moran family had worked as handloom weavers in Bolton until the introduction of power looms radically changed the industry. In 1842/1843, seeking public education for his children and economic opportunity in a new land, Thomas Moran, Sr., journeyed to America. The following year his wife and children joined him and the reunited family settled in Kensington, a suburb of Philadelphia, where they became part of a well-established community of immigrant textile workers. While still a teenager Thomas became an apprentice at the Philadelphia engraving firm of Scattergood and Telfer. After three years he withdrew from his apprenticeship and began working in the studio of his older brother, Edward, who had begun to establish himself as a marine painter. Serving, in effect, a second apprenticeship, Moran benefitted not only from the advice of his brother but also from that of James Hamilton (1819-1878), a well-known Philadelphia painter who had befriended Edward. Described by contemporaries as the "American Turner," Hamilton may have sparked Thomas Moran's life-long interest in the work of English artist J.M.W. Turner. In 1861, after several years of studying Turner's work in reproduction, Thomas and Edward journeyed to London where they spent several months studying and copying Turner's work at the National Gallery. A decade later, when Thomas journeyed west to join Ferdinand Vandiver Hayden's expedition to Yellowstone, the watercolors he produced on site bore clear evidence of his debt to Turner. Moran's trip to Yellowstone in 1871 marked the turning point of his career. The previous year he had been asked by Scribner's Magazine to rework sketches made in Yellowstone by a member of an earlier expedition party. Intrigued by the geysers and mudpots of Yellowstone, he borrowed money to make the trip himself. Numerous paintings and commissions resulted from this journey, but the sale of his enormous (7 by 12 feet) Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872, National Museum of American Art) to Congress shortly after passage of the bill that set Yellowstone aside as the first National Park, brought Moran considerable attention. In 1873, following up on his earlier success, Moran joined John Wesley Powell's expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Shortly after his return he set to work on a second canvas equal in size to his earlier Yellowstone painting...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Ocean Crashing against Rocks, Isles of Shoals
Ocean Crashing against Rocks, Isles of Shoals

Ocean Crashing against Rocks, Isles of Shoals

By Frank Waller

Located in Philadelphia, PA

Frank Waller (American, 1842-1923) Ocean Crashing against Rocks, Isles of Shoals Oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 20 1/4 inches FRAMED: 15 x 26 inches (approx.) Note: while this work is unsi...

Category

Early 1900s Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

18th Century Antique Pastoral Landscape Cows Watering Hole Original Oil Canvas
18th Century Antique Pastoral Landscape Cows Watering Hole Original Oil Canvas

18th Century Antique Pastoral Landscape Cows Watering Hole Original Oil Canvas

Located in Stockholm, SE

Before us is a European pastoral rural landscape, created by an unidentified master in the second half of the 18th century. In the foreground of the coulisse composition, among spraw...

Category

Late 18th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Wood, Oil

"Calla lilies"
"Calla lilies"

"Calla lilies"

By Roman Dub

Located in Edinburgh, GB

The painting embodies a striking balance between light and shadow, the earthly and the sublime, reminding the viewer of the harmony that exists within life’s contrasts. The symbolism...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Mixed Media

Broadway Costume Design Illustration
Broadway Costume Design Illustration

Broadway Costume Design Illustration

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Fabulous illustration depicts a costume for Broadway production. Gouache on illustration board, image measures 10.5 x 16.5 inches; 15 x 22 inches framed. Excellent condition in ori...

Category

1960s Realist Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Illustration Board

"“Orientalist Scene"
"“Orientalist Scene"

"“Orientalist Scene"

Located in Edinburgh, GB

Unidentified Artist Orientalist Scene Oil on canvas Framed: 162 x 221 cm Canvas: 144 x 200 cm No signatured This striking large-scale oil painting presents a dramatic Orientalist co...

Category

19th Century Realist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bluebonnets, Oak, and Yucca
Bluebonnets, Oak, and Yucca

Bluebonnets, Oak, and Yucca

Located in Houston, TX

Willian A. Slaughter (1923-2003) William A. Slaughter was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1923 and died in Dallas, Texas December 2003. His first call was to the ministry and after ser...

Category

1970s Realist Paintings

Materials

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.