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.
Find authentic realist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
1690s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Cotton Canvas, Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
1680s Realist Paintings
Ink, Paper, Gouache
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
17th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
Mid-18th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Wood, Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Wood, Oil
1730s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
Mid-18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
Mid-17th Century Realist Paintings
Copper
Early 1700s Realist Paintings
Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Etching
18th Century Realist Paintings
Etching
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Watercolor, Etching
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Paper
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Paper
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Emulsion, Mixed Media, Watercolor, Photographic Paper, Lithograph, Monop...
2010s Realist Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Realist Paintings
Handmade Paper, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Emulsion, Photogram, Mixed Media, Watercolor, Photographic Paper, Monopr...
2010s Realist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Paintings
Photogram, Photographic Film, Monotype, Lithograph, Color, C Print, Phot...
2010s Realist Paintings
Photographic Film, Photogram, Emulsion, Watercolor, Photographic Paper, ...
2010s Realist Paintings
Printer's Ink
2010s Realist Paintings
Photographic Film, Photogram, Monotype, Lithograph, Color, C Print, Phot...
2010s Realist Paintings
Photographic Film, Emulsion, Watercolor, Photographic Paper, C Print, Co...
2010s Realist Paintings
Photogram, Photographic Film, Monotype, Lithograph, Color, C Print, Phot...
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Paper
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Paper
15th Century and Earlier Realist Paintings
Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Paper
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Paper, Oil
Late 17th Century Realist Paintings
Wood, Paper, Oil
1690s Realist Paintings
Wood, Oil, Wood Panel
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
1720s Realist Paintings
Oil
Late 18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil
18th Century Realist Paintings
Oil, Canvas