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Realist Art

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
Color:  Orange
Enchanted Vortex: Rainbow Portals of Mushroom- butterfly contemporary realism
Located in London, Chelsea
"Enchanted Vortex: Rainbow Portals of Mushroom Ascension" is a mesmerizing artwork that transports us into a realm where magic and spirituality intertwine. This painting invites us t...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Sunset Bottle Collection, Vertical Still Life, Orange Display Table Ware, Violet
Located in Barcelona, ES
"Sunset Bottle Collection" is a contemporary still-life painting that features a chic display of classy bottles and glasses in orange tones. The bo...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Acrylic, Oil, Watercolor

Pink evening. Ocean., Painting, Oil on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
Pink evening. Ocean. sunset, warm water, ocean, sea, small waves, sun reflection, clear sky, create an atmosphere of relaxation and romance. Made in the style of realism, impression...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Portrait d'enfant
Located in Washington, DC
Signed lower right: Geo
Category

Late 19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Honey Persimmons
Located in Scottsdale, AZ
Small format realist still life by well-known Ukrainian painter, Victoria Kalaichi.
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Ni-Polog
Located in New York, NY
Signed, dated, and inscribed on the verso: Malvina Hoffman/ Den Pasar/ “Nipolog”-/ © 1932/ Bali Provenance: The artist; her estate. Literature: Mal...
Category

1930s Realist Art

Materials

Terracotta

Pool Hall
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower left.
Category

1980s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Orange
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Painted from a sketch from life, a nude, female figure sits with an orange cloth draped around her shoulders. Ramiro places the figure on a pedestal, draped in white linens. The figure's back is revealed, curving sensually and naturally, hair pulled up in a bun to accentuate her form. Signed: Angel Ramiro Sanchez in lower right corner Angel Ramiro Sanchez was born in 1974 in Maracaibo, Venezuela. At age six was accepted with full scholarship into the Instituto the Niños Cantores del Zulia, school for musically gifted children. At age fourteen he began five years of apprenticeship with the realist painter, Abdon J. Romero, an eminent specialist in murals for churches and public buildings. In 1993, a study grant from Mgr. Gustavo Ocando Yamarte, Founder the Niños Cantores, enabled him to travel to Florence, Italy, where he studied at the renowned Accademia di Belle Arti, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1997. At the same time, he was enrolled at The Florence Academy of Art,founded by painter Daniel Graves, where he received a diploma in Painting. Ramiro was appointed senior painting instructor at The Florence Academy of Art in 1997, and is currently Director of the Advanced Painting Program. Ramiro paints only from life, searching for accuracy beyond physical appearance to reach the psychological state of his subject. He believes the painter must draw his information from "all five senses" to tell the complete human story. Ramiros work is predominantly represented by th e Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor, New York, but also Scriba Gallery, venice, Italy, Jack Meier Gallery, Houston, Tx. Ramiros works can be found in numerous private collections in Europe, The United States and South America. Public collections include: The Fondazione Stelline, Milan, Italy. The Fremantle Foundation for Foreing Artist in Tuscany at Villa Peyron, Florence, Italy and The Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA. USA. He shares his life and passion for art with his wife, the artist Melissa Franklin-Sanchez. Education 1993-1997 Florence Academy of Art, directed by Daniel Graves, Florence, Italy. 1993-1997 Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze Graduated Magna Cum Laude, Thesis: Historic and Technical Notes of Academic Realism Today. 1995 Florence, Italy: Michael John Angel...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Peaches, photo realism still life, orange and grey tones
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Still life painting of three peaches, one cut up, lit from the left. The peaches are from the artist's local farmer's market in Brooklyn, NY, A study of texture.
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Bruno Bruni - "Delle Primavera" - color offset lithograph
Located in Winterswijk, NL
Bruni, Bruno, "Delle Primavera", "In Spring": Color offset lithograph, signed by hand. Tender allegory in pastel nuances. Fantastic Realism, Surrealism: Bruni processes subjective im...
Category

20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

Commedia dell'arte – Four Character Studies in Watercolor, 1920s
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Unidentified artist, 'Commedia dell’arte' – four character studies (Arlecchino, Pantalone, Pantalone giovane, Tartaglia), watercolor and pencil, c. 192...
Category

1920s Realist Art

Materials

Pencil, Watercolor

New generation
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
The new generation talks about d new fashions swags of d youths of this era, in Their sense of music games and crafts, they have a mix of the vintage cu...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Charcoal, Canvas, Acrylic

"Witchcraft" Oil Painting 59" x 47" inch by Dmitriy Krestniy
Located in Culver City, CA
"Witchcraft" Oil Painting 59" x 47" inch by Dmitriy Krestniy ATTENTION: Painting ships rolled in a tube. A look through Dmitriy’s designs reveals a glamorous, feminine, provocative yet sensual style influenced by his natural Ukrainian exuberance. He understands and respects the art’s body which continuously is at the center of his paintings. His preference goes by drawing with pastels, oil and charcoal to create innovative paintings among which are such style as photorealism where the artist writes such paintings as the pictorial art...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Memory of a Sundown, " Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Shawn Krueger's "Memory of a Sundown" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a rocky shore of a cove where an orange and green sky stretches into the distance reflecting ...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Panel, Oil

Sunset. 1975. Watercolor on paper, 14, 5x22, 7 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Sunset. 1975. Watercolor on paper, 14,5x22,7 cm Herberts Mangolds (1901-1978) Graphic, army officer. In 1920 he graduated from the Artillery Cadet School of Latvian and many militar...
Category

1970s Realist Art

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Self Portrait by Jim Dine (plate one from Self Portraits portfolio 1971)
Located in New York, NY
Jim Dine, Self Portrait 1971 drypoint on Hodgkinson Hand Made Tone-Weave paper Paper 18 x 14 in. / 46 x 36 cm Plate 8 x 6 in. / 20 x 15 cm plate one from Self Portraits (1971) portfo...
Category

1970s Realist Art

Materials

Drypoint

Orange Braids, Painting, Watercolor on Watercolor Paper
Located in Yardley, PA
Transparent watercolour on paper. This gorgeous little First Nations girl had such an appealing face and expression. She actually looks a little Tibetan I think. With the wonderful...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Watercolor

Customs of Trastevere (Rome) - Etching by Bartolomeo Pinelli - 1819
Located in Roma, IT
Hand-watercolored Etching, 1819, Image Dim: cm 28 x 20, Dim: cm 29x41. Etching and Watercolor technique. In Good condition. Signed and dated on plate lower margin "Pinelli dis. e ...
Category

1810s Realist Art

Materials

Etching

Belle Epoque Bride in White Dress
Located in New York, NY
Beautiful Belle Epoque Lady in White dress, presumably a Bride by Frederick Hendrik Kaemmerer (1839-1902). Oil on Canvas, circa 1860's, signed lowe...
Category

19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Lilies In East Village New York
Located in Delray Beach, FL
Lilies in East Village New York. RAFAEL SALDARRIAGA was born in Medellin, Colombia in 1955. Arrived in the United States in 1993. After living in New Mexico and Hawaii established his residency in New York City. He studied in Live de Zulateqi's Art Academy and also graduated from the school of Architecture and Urban Design with Pontificia Bolivariana University. In 1984 he became a full-time painter. SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2005- Galleria de Arte El Taller, Medellin, Colombia 2003-4 Notes in Color, Colombian Center Gallery, New York City 2000- Artist on the Scene, AMC Gallery, New York City 2000- Bodegones, Colombian Government Trade Bureau, New York City 1998- Still Life, United Nations Secretarial Bldg., New York City Bodegones, Consulate General of Colombia, New York City 1999-01. Open Studio, New York, NY 1985- Club Campestre, Cali Colombia 1984-93- Open Studio, Medellín, Colombia 1976- Academia de Arte Libe de Zulategi y Mejia, Medellín, Colombia GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2006. Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Open Studios, New York, NY 2005. Latin American Expressions, The Flinn Gallery, Greenwich Library, CT 2004. Latin American Art Exhibition, Wally Findlay Galleries, New York, NY 2008 Latin American Art Exhibition, Wally Findlay Galleries, Palm Beach, FL 2001. Drawings and Photographs, Gunter Knob Studio, New York City 1999. New House Galleries for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY . Selected Latin Artists, Art Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey . Chelsea Art Walk, New York, NY 1998. AT&T Latino Art Festival 1998, Queens, NY . Latin American Art in the 90s, St. Johns University, Jamaica, New York . Chelsea Art Festival, New York City . The Belle Arts Gala, NE Gallery, New York City 1997. Hui No’eau Visual Art Center Open Studio, Maui, Hawaii . Colombia in New York, Euroamerica Gallery, New York City . Gran Prix...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

English 20th century study of a woodpecker bird
Located in Woodbury, CT
James Williamson-Bell was a respected wildlife artist based in Newcastle and won several medals at the Paris Salon for his bird paintings. He was stro...
Category

1990s Realist Art

Materials

Gouache

'Village with Church Spire', English mid-19th Century Watercolor, David Cox
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'J. Orrock' for James Orrock (British, 1829-1913) and dated 1845. Matted Dimensions: 14.5 H x 19 W x .25 D Inches. A well composed and freshly painted, mid-nineteenth century watercolor showing a view of a herd of cattle pasturing in lush fields beside a river, with a view beyond towards the church spire...
Category

1840s Realist Art

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Paper

Baldacci Bakery, Painting, Acrylic on Canvas
Located in Yardley, PA
This is an Italian bakery or Boulangerie and Patisserie that I saw recently while on vacation in Rome. The bread was amazing but the cakes were even better. This storefront painting ...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Acrylic

"Cut Food - Eggs" Multiple Sliced Egg Composition Yellow, White and Hot Pink
Located in Wellesley, MA
"Cut Food - Eggs" Archival Pigment Print Photograph, Edition 10, 16 1/2 x 23 1/4 Inches Sheet Size. This photograph is unframed. Note: Also available in two larger format shee...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

SERENA WITH RED CAP
Located in Aventura, FL
Hand signed, dated, and numbered by the artist. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. Edition: PP of 5, aside from edition of 30 plus 10 artist's p...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Archival Paper, Screen, Mixed Media

"Orange Roses and Lilac Posie"
Located in Lambertville, NJ
This gouache on paper is signed in the lower right. A specialist in floral still lives, especially informal arrangements, Raoul M. De Longpre was born in Lyons, Paris into an aristocratic, albeit poor, family that were "fleuristes", persons associated with flower painting whose center was Lyons. His father, Jean Antoine, decorated fans and exhibited floral still lifes in Paris and Lyons. He began drawing at a young age. By the time he was twelve he was earning a living painting flowers on fans for a firm in Paris. He worked and studied with his brother, Paul De Longpre...
Category

19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Glass Catcher
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original realist egg tempera painting by American female artist Catherine Koenig titled "Glass Catcher". This work created in 2001 is part of Draw Ne...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Board, Egg Tempera

Conceptual Realistic Palm Tree Oil Painting, "Inferno 6"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is an original one of a kind conceptual oil painting by local San Diego artist, Perry Vàsquez. Its dimensions are 16" x 48". It is unframed. This is...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Conceptual Realistic Palm Tree Painting, "Inferno 3"
Located in San Diego, CA
This is an original one of a kind conceptual oil painting by local San Diego artist, Perry Vàsquez. Its dimensions are 16x48. It is unframed. This is the third painting in a series of 6. The artist has depicted a palm tree on fire against an orange background. The artist uses a limited color palate of vibrant oranges, light orange, and a dark orange shade. Vàsquez focuses primarily on his exploration of various iterations of palm trees. Ubiquitous in Southern California, and historically viewed as a provider of nourishment, shelter, and bounty, the trees in Vásquez’s paintings are instead framed in peculiar or dire scenarios. Many of the trees in his work are ablaze, or are actually cell towers that pose as a living palm. They are superbly painted with layers of color and detail; they have become anthropomorphized through their portraiture-style framing on the canvas and dance-like poses. Vásquez explains, “I recall being shaken the first time I saw a burning palm tree. My response was to investigate the meaning of this phenomenon through painting and to work through my feelings of awe and dread. I want my paintings of palm trees...
Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Self-Portrait
By Sean Keating
Located in Missouri, MO
Sean Keating (Irish 1889-1977) "Self Portrait" c. 1950s Charcoal on Paper Signed Lower Right Framed Size: approx 20 x 16 inches A noted portrait and figure painter, influenced by b...
Category

1950s Realist Art

Materials

Charcoal, Archival Paper

Realist art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Realist art 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 art 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 Slim Aarons, Michael Budden, Daniel Pollera, and Su Yu. 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 art, so small editions measuring 0.1 inches across are also available.

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