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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
Santa and Serena Antonelli, Italy, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1980s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Santa and Serena Antonelli and a guest dining al fresco on the terrace of their home abov...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, France, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests round the swimming pool at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August. Th...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Poolside Gathering, Palm Springs California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, designed by Richard Neutra in 1946 for b...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Social Call, Estate Edition Photograph, Acapulco
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1972—Charley Weaver makes a poolside phone call under a white fringe umbrella on a cream rotary phone at Las Brisas in Acapulco, Mexico. She wears a yello...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Phil Richards' Pool, Florida 1970, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A poolside party at Phil Richards' home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, May 1970. Slim Aarons Phil Richards' Pool 1970 Slim Aarons Estate Edition C-type print Certificate of Authentic...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portofino, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests relaxing on the terrace at the villa of Umberto and Pucci Nordio, Portofino This i...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portofino, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests relaxing on the terrace at the villa of Umberto and Pucci Nordio, Portofino This i...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Portofino, Italy, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests relaxing on the terrace at the villa of Umberto and Pucci Nordio, Portofino This i...
Category

1980s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Iconic Estate Edition, 'Pop and Society, ' Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithfull
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons Pop and Society (Marianne Faithfull, the Honorable Desmond Guinness and Mick Jagger) Chromogenic lambda print 4 sizes available Slim Aarons Estate Edition 1968: From lef...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Poolside Gathering, Palm Springs California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, designed by Richard Neutra in 1946 for b...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Pop and Society: Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull at vintage Leixlip Castle
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons's iconic and unusual photograph of 60's rock and roll legends, captured in a moment of casual glamour. 1968: From left to right, Singer Marianne Faithfull, the Honorable Desmond Guinness and Mick Jagger (of the Rolling Stones) sit on a sofa under a large gilt framed portrait of a woman in 18th century silk dress at Leixlip Castle, Ireland, the home of Desmond Guinness. The sofa is a deep burgundy red, and the background features a richly patterned and gilded wallpaper...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Palm Springs Life, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Nelda Linsk (left, in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk with guests by the pool at the Li...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Poolside Pairs, Estate Edition, Modernist Architecture, Palm Springs Landscape
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Palm Springs, 1970: This coveted photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features two women in stylish midcentury clothing in front of the turquoise swimming pool o...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Olimpia Hruska, Italy, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Swedish model Olimpia Hruska, wearing a bikini, poses against a rock on the Costa Smeralda...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Caprice On Capri, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
1958: Singer and actress Caprice Chantal (right) on the Italian island of Capri. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aa...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sarah Marson Williams, Barbados, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Sarah Marson Williams enjoying a cocktail on the beach at the Hilton Hotel, Needhams Point,...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Paradise Island, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Versailles Gardens and the French Cloister at the Ocean Club on Paradise Island, opposite Nassau on the Bahamas, May 1968. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity in...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Caleta Beach, Acapulco, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a couple walking on Caleta Beach holding hands, Acapulco, Mexico, 1968. This is an esta...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Ride By Rows: photo of Black African American urban cowboy in Philadelphia city
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This photograph of a Black African American cowboy in the urban city of Philadelphia pictured against the city's iconic row homes is part of artist Ron Tarver's long-term, ongoing project, "The Long Ride Home: The Black Cowboy...
Category

2010s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Archival Pigment

Laguna Beach Surfers, California, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a surfer in the sea at Laguna Beach, California. This is an estate stamped and hand numb...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Hotel Olden, Gstaad, Estate Edition, Urban Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s urban photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people carrying their skis past the Hotel Olden in Gstaad, 1961. This is an estate stamped...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nelda and Friends, Palm Springs, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ladies by the pool at the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California, January 1970. From right to left, former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), unknown, Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk, and actress Lita Baron (in white sunhat). The Linsks are the current owners of the house. Over the course of a career lasting half a century, Slim Aarons (1916-2006) portrayed high society, aristocracy, authors, artists, business icons, the celebrated and their milieu. In doing so, he captured a golden age of wealth, privilege, beauty and leisure, a history of glamour that occurred alongside—but quite separate from—the cultural and political backdrop of the second half of the Twentieth Century. Increasingly known for his influence, Aarons's casually glamorous jetset aesthetic can be seen today in fashion, art, and celebrity photography. Recent articles credit his work with inspiring the casually flawless style of top Instagram influencers, full of sunshine and escapism. Reference: "Dive in: how Slim Aarons art directed the poolside summer. French brand Maje are the latest label to take inspiration from Slim Aarons’ pictures of the jetset on holiday." Slim Aarons Nelda and...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sailing In The Bahamas, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a crew member tending to the rigging on a yacht in Lyford Cay, Bahamas. This is an estate...
Category

1970s 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

SS Queen Of Bermuda, Bermuda, Estate Edition, Maritime Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s maritime photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the British ocean liner 'SS Queen of Bermuda' in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda. This is an es...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nicely Coiffed, France, Estate Edition, Cityscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s urban photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a poodle entering a barber shop on a street in Deauville, Normandy, France. This is an estate sta...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, Estate Edition, Winter Portrait Photograph This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features skiers at Cortina D...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing In Stowe, Vermont, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a young woman waiting to go on a ski run in Stowe, Vermont, USA. This is an estate stamp...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, Sunbathers at Il Canille
Located in New York, NY
Sunbathers lounge on the white-painted terrace of Il Canille, built into the rocks of Pizzolungo overlooking the waters off the coast of the island of Capri, Italy, in August, 1980. ...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nicely Coiffed, France, Estate Edition, Cityscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s urban photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a poodle entering a barber shop on a street in Deauville, Normandy, France. This is an estate sta...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing In Stowe, Vermont, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a young woman waiting to go on a ski run in Stowe, Vermont, USA. This is an estate stamp...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nirvana
Located in Los Angeles, CA
The pool at Villa Nirvana, Acapulco, Mexico. Old Acapulco can be seen across the bay. Complimentary dealer shipping to your framer, worldwide. Undercurrent Projects is proud to off...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

C Print

Catch Up By the Pool Estate Edition, Modernist Architecture, Palm Springs
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Palm Springs, 1970: This coveted photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features midcentury socialites in front of the turquoise swimming pool of the iconic Kaufma...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sailing In Lyford Cay, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a crew member tending to the rigging on a yacht in Lyford Cay, Bahamas. This is an estate...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Lillian Crawford, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Lillian Crawford, the wife of actor Lee Kinsolving, in Palm Beach, May 1970. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aaron...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Holiday In Capri, Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Carla Vuccino and Bianca Volpato holiday with their friends on Capri, Italy, July 1958. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Lounging in Verbier, Swiss Alps, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph Mountains
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Swiss Alps, 1964: This landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holiday-makers taking in the sunset on a white snowy mou...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nicely Coiffed, France, Estate Edition, Cityscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s urban photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a poodle entering a barber shop on a street in Deauville, Normandy, France. This is an estate sta...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Nicely Coiffed, France, Estate Edition, Cityscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s urban photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a poodle entering a barber shop on a street in Deauville, Normandy, France. This is an estate sta...
Category

1970s 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

Jim Kimberly, California, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Jim Kimberly and Kim Wadsworth at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California. This is an estate ...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sarah Marson Williams, Barbados, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Sarah Marson Williams enjoying a cocktail on the beach at the Hilton Hotel, Needhams Point,...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Alice In Acapulco, Mexico, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Alice Topping and Minnie Cushing (left) relaxing with friends in Acapulco, Mexico. This is...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Joan Collins Relaxes, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Film star Joan Collins relaxes with her pink poodle on her pink bed. Slim Aarons Joan Collins Relaxes, Estate Edition Chromogenic Lambda print 1955, Printed Later Slim Aarons Estate...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Marbles Championship, New York City, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1940s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of boys competing in a marble championship in Central Park, New York City. This i...
Category

1940s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

The Hotel Excelsior, Rome, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a woman holding her skis in North Conway, New Hampshire. This is an estate stamped and han...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, France, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests round the swimming pool at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August. Th...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, France, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests round the swimming pool at the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France, August. Th...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing in Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features (from left to right) Christine Camerana, Caroline Stoop, and Christine Semenenko Warrender...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Marbella House Party, Spain, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests at a party at the home of Sebastiano Bergese in Marbella, Spain. This is an estate...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, San Diego, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, La Jolla, San Diego. This is an estate stamp...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons, "Poolside in Arizona" (Midcentury Architecture, Vintage Desert)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
'Poolside In Arizona' by Slim Aarons Fabulously fashionable guests by the calm water of the swimming pool at the home of Wayne Beal in Scottsdale,...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Skiing in Gstaad, Switzerland, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1970s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features (from left to right) Christine Camerana, Caroline Stoop, and Christine Semenenko Warrender...
Category

1970s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Party At Romanoff's, Slim Aarons Estate Edition
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A party at Romanoff's in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, 1959. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim Aarons Estate Modern es...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Lounging in Verbier, Swiss Alps, Estate Edition, Landscape Photograph Mountains
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Swiss Alps, 1964: This landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holiday-makers taking in the sunset on a white snowy mountain top in Verbier, Swit...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Snorkelling In The Shallows, Malta, Estate Edition, Aerial Waterscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s aerial landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of people snorkelling off a small boat in Malta. This is an estate stampe...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Slim Aarons Pop and Society (Slim Aarons Estate Edition)
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Slim Aarons Pop and Society (Marianne Faithfull, the Honorable Desmond Guinness and Mick Jagger) Chromogenic lambda print 4 sizes available Slim Aarons Estate Edition 1968: From lef...
Category

1960s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Snorkelling In Malta, Estate Edition, Aerial Waterscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s aerial landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features group of people snorkelling off a small boat in Malta. This is an estate stamped ...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Snorkelling In The Shallows, Malta, Estate Edition, Aerial Waterscape Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1950s aerial landscape photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a group of people snorkelling off a small boat in Malta. This is an estate stampe...
Category

1950s Realist Color Photography

Materials

Lambda

Sailing In Lyford Cay, Bahamas, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a crew member tending to the rigging on a yacht in Lyford Cay, Bahamas. This is an estate...
Category

1970s 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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