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Realist Color Photography

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
Californian Party, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1990s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Belgian born actress Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993) socialising at a party in San Francisco. This is an estate stamp...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Californian Party, San Francisco, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1990s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Belgian born actress Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993) socialising at a party in San Francisco. This is an estate stamp...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'El Venero, Marbella' Midcentury Modern Photography
Located in New York, NY
El Venero, the Moorish villa of Hector and Chico de Ayala in Marbella, Spain, 1971. El Venero 1971 C print Estate signature stamped and hand numbered editio...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Scone, Madam? (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1960, Afternoon tea round the pool on a cold day at the home of interior decorator James Pendleton in Beverly Hills. 48 x 48 inches $4500 40 x 40 inches $3950 30 x 30 inches $335...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons Relaxing at Lake Tahoe (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A group of people relaxing by a pool near Lake Tahoe, California, 1959. Relaxing at Lake Tahoe Slim Aarons Estate Edition Printed later 40x40 inches Numbered and stamped by the Sli...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Laguna Beach (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Surfers outside a beach hut in Laguna Beach, California, January 1970. Laguna Beach Slim Aarons Estate Print Chromogenic Lambda print with two certificates of authenticity 60 x 40 ...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'David Nightingale Hicks' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
April 1970—Interior designer David Nightingale Hicks (1929 - 1998) on Windermere Island in the Bahamas. David Nightingale Hicks Slim Aarons Es...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

An Original Photograph Sean Scully Pueblo COA Rare Important Mexico coca cola
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original C-Print from Sean Scully's Pueblo Dzibalchen series (A Suite of 20) created in 2001. This work comes in a fantastic natural wood archival frame presentation. This series was shot by Scully in Campeche, Mexico. Photograph size: 20 x 24 in. Framed Size: 27.5 x 33.5 Painter, photographer, watercolorist, and printmaker Sean Scully roams the world with his camera, capturing its surfaces in places as far-flung as Mexico and the Aran Islands...
Category

Early 2000s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, C Print

"Leaves" series #0151: nature still-life leaf photograph w/ orange, earth tones
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This is an archival pigment photograph by artist Paul Cava depicting a highly detailed autumn leaf in a minimalist arrangement on a textured background. It is printed on Hahnemuhle P...
Category

2010s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Slim Aarons 'Bahamas Signpost''
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Bahamas Signpost 1964 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. A signpost in Nassau points the way to...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Verbier Skier'
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Verbier Skier 1964 C print Estate edition of 150 A blonde skier on the slopes at Verbier, February 1964. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certific...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Beverly Hills Hotel' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in California, 1957. Beverly Hills Hotel Slim Aarons Estate Edition 40x40 inches Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate. Certifi...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing In Seefeld, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of men and women go cross-country skiing in Seefeld, Austria, 1985. This i...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Palace Hotel, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1980s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people ice skating at the Palace Hotel, St. Moritz, Switzerland, 1989. This is an...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Tyrolean Churches, Tyrol, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990 winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Andreas Kirche and Liebfrauen Kirche in Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol, 1990. This is ...
Category

1990s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Tyrolean Churches, Tyrol, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990 winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Andreas Kirche and Liebfrauen Kirche in Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol, 1990. This is ...
Category

1990s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Tyrolean Churches, Tyrol, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990 winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Andreas Kirche and Liebfrauen Kirche in Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol, 1990. This is ...
Category

1990s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Tyrolean Churches, Tyrol, Estate Edition, Winter Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1990 winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Andreas Kirche and Liebfrauen Kirche in Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol, 1990. This is ...
Category

1990s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Lake Tahoe Ladies
Located in New York, NY
Caption:A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959. Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and fa...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Lake Tahoe Ladies'
Located in New York, NY
Caption: A group of young women in their bathing suits on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959. Slim Aarons worked mainly for society publications, taking pictures of the rich and f...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Beauty and the Beast'
Located in New York, NY
Lady Daphne Cameron (Mrs George Cameron) on a tiger skin rug in the trophy room at socialite Laddie Sanford's home in Palm Beach, Florida. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition o...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a helicopter arriving at a mo...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Catherine Wilke in Capri (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Catherine Wilke joins the topless sunbathers on the island of Capri, 1980. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim A...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Palace Hotel, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Palace Hotel, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Palace Hotel in Gstaad, ...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Palace Hotel, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Palace Hotel, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph This early 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Palace Hotel in Gstaad, ...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Time For A Guinness
Located in New York, NY
Caption: April 1959: Gloria Guinness enjoying a swim in her pool at Manalapan, Palm Beach, Florida. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity ...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Peggy Guggenheim (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
September 1978: Peggy Guggenheim (1898 - 1979) in the Palazzo Venier Dei Leoni, Venice. The palace houses her private art collection, including Picass...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph This early 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Heinrich Dite and L...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph This early 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Heinrich Dite and L...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph This early 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Heinrich Dite and L...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph This early 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Heinrich Dite and L...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Curling, Austria, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph This early 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Heinrich Dite and L...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Modern Abstract Photograph of a Pink and Gold Building with Window
Located in Houston, TX
Modern abstract photograph of the side of a building with pink and gold accents by the Texas artist Mark Greene. The off-centered window is balanced by the extension of the black mat...
Category

Late 20th Century Realist Color Photography

Materials

Photographic Film

Manhattan in the evening
Located in Kansas City, MO
Wolff Buchholz Title: Manhattan in the evening Medium: Photograph Year: 1990 Signed, dated and titled by hand Edition: 6 Size: 11.9 × 16.4 inches
Category

1990s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Winter Suntans, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s group portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features young women enjoy a relaxing sunbathe in snowy Gstaad. This is an estate stamped a...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Winter Suntans, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s group portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features young women enjoy a relaxing sunbathe in snowy Gstaad. This is an estate stamped a...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Winter Suntans, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s group portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features young women enjoy a relaxing sunbathe in snowy Gstaad. This is an estate stamped a...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Snowmass Picnic, Colorado, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Snowmass Picnic, Colorado, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph This late 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a stand-up fondue...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Snowmass Picnic, Colorado, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Snowmass Picnic, Colorado, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph This late 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a stand-up fondue...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Snowmass Picnic, Colorado, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Snowmass Picnic, Colorado, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph This late 1960s winter landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a stand-up fondue...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Snowmass Picnic (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
A stand-up fondue picnic for skiers at Snowmass-at-Aspen, Colorado which has more than fifty miles of trails and snowfields. The village was opened in 1967. Estate stamped and hand...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Saint-Tropez Boucherie (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice' Mid-century Modern Photography
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1957 C print Signature stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the Slim Aarons estate. The Westin Excelsior Hotel on the Lido in ...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Alpine Skiing, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Alpine Skiing, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Skiers waiting for the c...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Amalfi Coast (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Amalfi Coast, 1978 C-print Estate edition of 150 Windsurfing on the waters off the Amalfi Coast, Italy, in September 1978. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 15...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1957 C print Signature stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the Slim Aarons estate. The Westin Excelsior Hotel on the Lido in ...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice' Mid-century Modern Photography
Located in New York, NY
Westin Excelsior in Venice 1957 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photo...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Pevero Golf Corse
Located in New York, NY
Slim Aarons Pevero Golf Corse, 1978 C-print Estate edition of 150 1978, The Pevero Golf Course, Costa Smeralda, Sardinia. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certif...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Saint-Tropez Boucherie' (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
A boucherie or butcher's shop on Rue des Commercants in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 1971. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity f...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Massimo Listri, Castello di Rivoli III - Torino
Located in New York, NY
Castello di Rivoli III - Torino "What makes his work unique is how he has made interiors look so absolutely vivid, as if they had a secret life of their own that only he knows how t...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Slim Aarons 'Beauty and the Beast'
Located in New York, NY
Lady Daphne Cameron (Mrs George Cameron) on a tiger skin rug in the trophy room at socialite Laddie Sanford's home in Palm Beach, Florida. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition o...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
Located in New York, NY
Westin Excelsior in Venice 1957 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aarons, an acclaimed fine art photo...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Joan Collins Relaxes (Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in New York, NY
Film star Joan Collins relaxes with her pink poodle on her pink bed. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Slim Aaron...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Minny Crushing Surfing
Located in New York, NY
American society girl Minnie Cushing carries her surfboard under her arm, September 1965. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the e...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Julie London (Aarons Estate Print)
Located in New York, NY
1957: Singer Julie London enjoying breakfast in bed at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. S...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Minny Crushing Surfing
Located in New York, NY
American society girl Minnie Cushing carries her surfboard under her arm, September 1965. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the e...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons 'Westin Excelsior, Venice'
Located in New York, NY
Portofino 1955 C print Estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150 with certificate of authenticity from the estate. Yachts moored in the Italian fishing village of Portofino...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Slim Aarons 'Beauty and the Beast'
Located in New York, NY
Lady Daphne Cameron (Mrs George Cameron) on a tiger skin rug in the trophy room at socialite Laddie Sanford's home in Palm Beach, Florida. Estate stamped and hand numbered edition o...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Principe Dom Pedro, Brazil, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, Principe Dom Pedro De Orleans E Braganca, grandson of Brazilian emperor Pedro II. He is pictured at...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Principe Dom Pedro, Brazil, Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1980s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, Principe Dom Pedro De Orleans E Braganca, grandson of Brazilian emperor Pedro II. He is pictured at...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Realist color photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Realist color photography 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 color photography 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, pink, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Slim Aarons, Massimo Listri, Sean Scully, and John Conn. Frequently made by artists working with Digital Print, and Lambda Print 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 color photography, so small editions measuring 8.5 inches across are also available. Prices for color photography made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $200 and tops out at $28,500, while the average work sells for $3,350.

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