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
George Washington
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
Original painting signed by the Artist on the frame.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Landscape in Oil and Canvas -- Gloucester
By Tina Lincer
Located in Troy, NY
This oil painting on canvas give a panoramic view of the water in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This lovely painting shows a general water scene with boats on a gloriously clear day and...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
The Seated Man – An Intimate Glimpse into Daily Life
Located in Stockholm, SE
This masterfully executed painting by Emerik Stenberg (1873–1927) captures an intimate and atmospheric moment. The composition features a seated man, engrossed in his daily chores, b...
Category
Early 20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Two Stacked Cups in Green, White and Gold on a Gray Ground"
Located in Wellesley, MA
Olga Antonova’s subject is compositions of extraordinarily elegant and beautiful cups, plates, teapots, and dishes, but there is something humorous and provocative about these painti...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
Weir and old industry on the river Vienne winter, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Gav Banns
Located in Yardley, PA
It was an unseasonably warm February's day when I took a walk along the river Vienne where the old industry decays along the river's edge. It is a day I will always remember because I found two cats in the river just a few metres from this scene; one heavily pregnant, and a kitten close to death, and with a little effort was able to save them both. The kitten stayed with me (after 3 days fighting for life at the vets), and the other cat gave birth to healthy kittens two weeks later. She was named Vienne after the river and was found a good home. The oil painting uses...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Goletas Pesqueras On La Bahia De San Antonio, Chile. Large oil painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork titled "Goletas Pesqueras On La Bahia De San Antonio, Chile" is a large oil painting on canvas by Culean artist Ernesto Romero Diaz. I...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Rabbit Brush Refuge
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
Original Acrylic painting signed by the Artist on lower right corner.
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Still life with jasmine flowers. oil painting by Liliya Volskay
Located in Zofingen, AG
Still life with jasmine flowers" oil painting by Lilia Volskaya. Spring is the time of the year when nature wakes up: the snow melts, the weather gradually becomes warmer.Bright whit...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Lacquer, Oil
"Alba" Original Oil and Acrylic Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Conrado López presents "Alba," a compelling 2023 artwork that masterfully blends acrylic and oil on canvas. This handmade original piece exhibits the artist's adeptness in manipulati...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Brown and White Cat Drinking Milk From a Bowl
By Arthur Heyer
Located in New York, NY
Brown and White Cat Drinking Milk From a Bowl, by Arthur Heyer
Oil on canvas
21.5 x 25.5 inches
Arthur Heyer was born in Haarhausen. He studied at the ...
Category
Early 20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
"Two"
Located in Edinburgh, GB
A SERIE OF ARTWORKS «FAIRIES OR SPIRITS»
We are humans, and each of us has our own life. We are so immersed in it that we do not see others. Often while seeing the problems of other...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
"Still life with sunflowers"
Located in Edinburgh, GB
A SERIE OF ARTWORKS «PLANTS»
Plants are like humans and each leaf is like an arm or leg in a fullfledged body. They are alive as well we are. We are very similar. There is something ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
"Unleashed"
Located in Edinburgh, GB
The model for the painting happened to be a girl standing in the street of Seville.It was on the day of Faria de Abril. Her image simbolises the liberation from doubts and fears, the...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
This is the moment before, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Asher Topel
Located in Yardley, PA
There is a special, even magical moment, as I stand before the white canvas, virgin, before the beginning of a new painting, at this moment, before any first color or headline, the i...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Mini Shoreline-original Cornish impressionism seascape painting-CONTEMPORARY Art
Located in London, Chelsea
"Mini Shoreline" by Lenny Cornforth is a captivating original seascape painting that transports viewers to the tranquil shores of Cornwall. Crafted with oil on canvas in the style of...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Plaza de España-Sevilla, Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Spain Square in Seville :: Painting :: Realism :: This piece comes with an official certificate of authenticity signed by the artist :: Ready to Hang: Yes :: Signed: Yes :: Signature...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Up the Kennebec
Located in Wiscasset, ME
John Folinsbee (1892-1972) was born in Buffalo, New York and, after finishing his studies at the Art Students League in 1916, moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania where he joined a renown...
Category
1940s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
Glass of Flaming Beauty, Painting, Acrylic on MDF Panel
By Paige Wallis
Located in Yardley, PA
I've always had a thing for daylilies, and the transience of their beauty; here and gone in only a day. They already have a fiery glow against the greenery in the garden, so here I s...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Acrylic
Tranquil Australian Landscape with Eucalyptus Trees - Vintage 20th Century Art
Located in Preston, GB
Tranquil Australian Landscape with Eucalyptus Trees adjacent to a Lake - Vintage 20th Century Art. Original Painting, Signed Artwork.
Art measures 36 x 24 inches
Frame measures 40...
Category
Mid-20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
Complicated choice, Painting, Oil on Canvas
By Janos Kujbus
Located in Yardley, PA
Original work - big painting in contemporary pop art style from hungarian artist Janos Kujbus. Story about the painting: "Although we have to make countless choices in our lives,...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
'TRITON, NO. 3", Painting, Oil on Wood Panel
Located in Yardley, PA
Power and light. That's what I get from this second wave painting. The world could always use more Power and Light, and Nature will always remind us of that grand Truth. :: Painting ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Antique American 19th C Realist California River Landscape Oil on Canvas 1888
Located in Portland, OR
A good late 19th century realist oil on canvas California river landscape painting, circa 1888, by Albert Horatio Slade (1843-1922).
The painting depicts a river through a mountainou...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
These Green Pastures
By Shelley Reed
Located in Bozeman, MT
This painting is oil on 7 canvas panels, each 7 feet high and is 30 feet wide TOTAL and is monochromatic black, after Desportes, Brascassat, Weenix, Hondecoeter, Oudry, Landseer, Snyders, van Huysum, Bellini, and van Es. The title references Psalm 23...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
"Chrysalis" oil painting, self portrait, realist meets art nouveau, yellow flora
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Chrysalis" is a contemporary oil painting on canvas. Orsolic is known for her melodic landscapes and precise attention to detail, however, in this painting, she branches away from r...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Karnak by Eleanor Parke Custis
Located in New Orleans, LA
Eleanor Parke Custis
1897-1983 American
Karnak
Signed 'Eleanor Parke Custis -' (lower right)
Gouache and charcoal on paper
American painter Eleanor Parke Custis demonstrates her mastery of the gouache medium in Karnak. A celebration of color and a relic of the artist’s travels abroad, the composition is well-balanced, exuding photojournalistic and documentarian qualities.
In Karnak, Custis paints a compelling and dynamic image of a great ancient Egyptian ruin. Seven distant men, likely Bedouins dressed...
Category
20th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Paper, Charcoal, Gouache
Home Alone This Saturday Morning -21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Africa
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.
About the Artist
Joy Eyitayo...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic
Wonder, or The Plane of the Invisible - blue trompe l'oeil oil painting
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
In the trompe l'oeil panel painting, "Wonder, or the Plane of the Invisible," a comic cut-out of Wonder Woman sits between two spatial planes—the top, very flat plane is cut out in the shape of a plane as a play Wonder Woman's famous "Invisible Plane." The silly way the comic book character would sit in an imaginary seat flying through the air would force the artist to wonder, “how do you represent an invisible plane”. Here, we see a bright blue canvas, sprinkled with glittery paillettes; an outline of an airplane beneath an outline of the word “SKY”, an infantile depiction of the sun made of masking tape, and finally, the hero, Wonder Woman, her comic clipping taped onto the invisible plane. A very believable, naturalist blue sky with puffy white clouds is visible through the letters and the invisible airplane. It feels like we can reach into the invisible plane to find the natural world…yet atop the plane is an old cartoon of the first female superhero. She overlaps the realistic atmosphere, and even casts a shadow onto it. The planet’s orbit is dedicated to the sun, and all living things need the light to survive…yet this most important element is made up of a crude array of tape strips, asymmetrical, and even torn in-half. This sun refers back to Pablo Picasso’s sun...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Gesso, Panel, Wood Panel, Board
A Peach, Oil Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
A ripe white peach with dried leaves rests on a wooden surface. Its pinkish-red and yellow skin contrasts with the dark background. Artist Art Tatin used Flem...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
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 Paintings
Materials
Oil
German Contemporary Art by Frank Suplie - Stinfangblick, Hamburg
Located in Paris, IDF
Egg tempera on canvas, Shadow joint frame
Frank Suplie is a German artist born in 1950 lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He is a member of the Painters Association of the North Ge...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Egg Tempera
Cherry Picking, Monogrammed MAB and Dated 1890, American School, Still Life
Located in Wiscasset, ME
Classic 19th century American School painting, "Cherry Picking," is monogrammed MAB and is dated 1890. In the tradition of the Fall River School artists like Robert Spear Dunning and Bryant Chapin...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
"Lemons - Abstracted" (2025) By Quang Ho, Original Oil Still Life Painting
By Quang Ho
Located in Denver, CO
Quang Ho's "Lemons - Abstracted" (2025) is an oil on board painting that depicts a vibrant lemon tree.
About the artist:
Quang Ho was born on April 30, 1963, in Hue, Vietnam. He Imm...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Dancing with Mr. Bacon, oil on canvas figurative
By Cesar Santos
Located in Miami, FL
Santos art education is worldly, and his work has been seen around the globe, from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sicily, Italy and the Beijing museum in...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil
"Lemon Tree" (2025) By Quang Ho, Original Oil Still Life Painting
By Quang Ho
Located in Denver, CO
Quang Ho's "Lemon Tree" (2025) is an oil on board painting that depicts a vibrant lemon tree.
About the artist:
Quang Ho was born on April 30, 1963, in Hue, Vietnam. He Immigrated t...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Harmony. A tender, sweet and gentle etching with mother, daughter and a goat:)
Located in Oslo, NO
This tender and serene etching captures a simple, beautiful moment — a girl lovingly brushing a goat, while her mother braids her hair. It’s a quiet, peaceful scene that brings to mi...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Paper, Etching
The dancer portrait
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this oil painting, I sought to capture the serene poise of a ballerina, a silent moment of reflection amidst the dynamism of her world. I used a palette that contrasts the warmth ...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Tree Lined River Scene in Summer with Bridleway in the English Countryside
Located in Preston, GB
Tree Lined River Scene in Summer with Bridleway in the English Countryside by British Artist, W Gilbert
Art measures 16 x 12 inches
Frame measures 22 x 18 ...
Category
1990s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Paint, Oil
ALAN MAGEE Stones with Red Brick 1982 acrylic on canvas Realism - Large painting
By Alan Magee
Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA
This is a large and wonderful painting by Alan Magee. “Stones with Red Brick” from 1982 is acrylic on canvas and painted in a photo realism style.
Category
Early 2000s Realist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Oil Painting Called "The Young Artist" by Swedish Johan Christoffer Boklund
Located in Stockholm, SE
Introducing a captivating oil painting by Johan Christoffer Boklund (1817-1880). The artwork depicts a young boy practicing his painting skills. Seated beside him is a wooden horse t...
Category
19th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Board
"Cup Composition & Orange Ball" Elegant Stacked Gold/White Cups on Pale Aqua
Located in Wellesley, MA
Olga Antonova’s subject is compositions of extraordinarily elegant, beautiful and whimsical cups, plates, teapots, vases and dishes, but there is something playful about these paintings. Stacked teacups are also amusing, having a kind of jaunty and upbeat personality of their own. Polka dots are as endearing to adults as to children, and everyone responds to the bling and sparkle of gold and silver while marveling at Antonova’s seemingly effortless ability to paint these radiant details.
Olga Antonova
"Cup Composition with Gold and White Cups...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Camel beach sketch
Located in CAMPO REAL, ES
In this sketch entitled “Camel Beach”, the artist transports us to the shores of Santander through carefully placed brushstrokes. With a palette of cold tones, the painting captures ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Linen, Oil, Wood Panel
Yin Yong Chun "Still Life with Oranges" 15x30 Equine Fruit Bowl Oil Painting
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
This floral still life, "Still Life with Oranges", by artist Yin Yong Chun is a 15x30 oil painting on canvas featuring a bowl of oranges in an ornate floral porcelain bowl as well as...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Grumpy Goat Realism oil 24" x 28" framed Baby Goat aka Kid Animal
Located in Houston, TX
Juan F. Sepulveda
Grumpy Goat Realism oil 24" x 28" framed Baby Goat
Juan F. Sepulveda has always been attracted animals with horns. Goats and sheep are almost animals in abstr...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Evening landscape on the river. Wood, oil, 29x39 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Evening landscape on the river. wood, oil, 29x39 cm
The artwork depicts a landscape scene of Netherlands, showcasing the unique characteristics and natural beauty of the region.
William Raymond Dommersen (1850-1927)
also Dommersheusen and Dommersheuzen, (London, Stratford West Ham, 1859 – London, 1927) was an English painter of Land- and Seascapes, Villages and Towns. He signed his work as W or WR Dommersen.
Dommersen painted between 1875 and 1927 genre pieces, landscapes, marine scenes, village- and town-scenes of quality. His best known works are the European villages and towns along rivers and...
Category
Late 19th Century Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil, Wood
House By The Sea 19th Century English
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
House By The Sea signed and dated "88
Charles Haigh-Wood was born in 1856 in a home above a workshop in Bury, England where his father Charles Wood,...
Category
1880s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Dahl Taylor, "Dinghies", 24x26 Boat and Water Oil Painting on Canvas
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
This piece, "Dinghies" by artist Dahl Taylor is a 24x26 oil painting on canvas featuring six dinghies bound together by rope, bobbing in the water. Sunligh...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"The Safe House" - Oil on Canvas Contemporary Landscape With Tornado Scene
Located in Denver, CO
Mark Harrison’s "The Safe House" (2024) is an original oil on canvas that presents a gripping and cinematic depiction of nature’s duality—beauty and danger in simultaneous motion. Th...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Tranquil River Scene in the English Countryside by 20th Century British Artist
Located in Preston, GB
Tranquil River Scene in the English Countryside by 20th Century British Artist, entitled Calm Waters
Art measures 28 x 20 inches
Frame measures 36 x 28 inches
Unique Original
Si...
Category
1990s Realist Paintings
Materials
Paper, Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Board
Dancing in the light
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this painting, I sought to capture the ethereal beauty and dynamic grace of a dancer in motion. Using oil paints, I meticulously rendered the fluidity of her dress and the express...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Art Nouveau Vase with Butterfly" Vase on Lavender/Blue Ground with Gold/Silver
Located in Wellesley, MA
Olga Antonova’s subject is compositions of extraordinarily elegant, beautiful and whimsical cups, plates, teapots, vases and dishes, but there is something playful about these paintings Stacked teacups are also amusing, having a kind of jaunty and upbeat personality of their own. Polka dots are as endearing to adults as to children, and everyone responds to the bling and sparkle of gold and silver while marveling at Antonova’s seemingly effortless ability to paint these radiant details...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Oil
The Moment
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
One of a kind, original oil painting on canvas by Zhaoming Wu.
Signed lower left.
Framed Dimensions: 41.5 X 17.5
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Deep Waters - water study realism seascape original modern oil painting photo
Located in London, Chelsea
This exceptional artwork is currently on display and available for sale at Signet Contemporary Art Gallery and online. Laevon Bowman captures the mesmerizing beauty of nature's movem...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Historic Topographical Building New York Subway Train System Landscape Drawing
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American important and historic drawing by John Avery, Ink on paper. Provenance from Kennedy Gallery. Framed. Measuring 19 by 23 inches overall and 12 by 15.5 drawing alone. ...
Category
1890s Realist Paintings
Materials
Ink, Archival Paper, Pencil
I'm Waiting for You
Located in Zofingen, AG
This artwork blends minimalism with intrigue, featuring a solitary figure in black standing before a simple motel with bold red lettering. The crisp contrast between the figure and b...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
Landscape with river oil on canvas painting Spain spanish
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
Josep Colomer Valls (1970) - Landscape - Oil on canvas
Oil size 38x46 cm.
Frameless.
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Oil on Canvas Titled "Catch of the Day”
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Carlos Antonio Rancaño was born in Miami, FL. from Cuban/Panamanian parents. After graduating Cum Laude from MIU with a Bachelors Degree in Grap...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
Oil
Glorious Summer Path-original floral landscape oil 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.
Rory J. Browne's "Glorious summer Path" offers a captivating g...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Oil Painting Titled: Girl in Water
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Oil painting on canvas, this particular piece is one of the few pieces left from her graduate program, her earlier work.
Christina Major was born in Concord, New Hampshire in 1982...
Category
2010s Realist Paintings
Materials
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.