Realist Art
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.
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21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Art
Copper
1910s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Artist Comments
Towering coconut palm trees stretch into a vibrant blue sky, their fronds swaying gently in the breeze. Expressive strokes and texture bring out the details o...
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil
1960s Realist Art
Lambda
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Paper, Etching
1910s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Board, Oil
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
1940s Realist Art
Oil, Board
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil
Late 20th Century Realist Art
Board
2010s Realist Art
Archival Pigment
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil, Board
1920s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
1920s Realist Art
Pencil, Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Cotton Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Art
Pencil
2010s Realist Art
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
1980s Realist Art
Linen, Oil
Mid-19th Century Realist Art
Linen, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s Realist Art
Gold Leaf
2010s Realist Art
Cotton Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Lambda
2010s Realist Art
Silver Gelatin
2010s Realist Art
Gold Leaf
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil, Panel
Early 20th Century Realist Art
Watercolor, Rag Paper, Pencil
1990s Realist Art
Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil, Wood
1980s Realist Art
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Mixed Media, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
1970s Realist Art
Lithograph
1880s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
1970s Realist Art
Photographic Paper
1930s Realist Art
Gouache, Cardboard
1960s Realist Art
Lambda
1990s Realist Art
Paper, Pastel, Watercolor
1910s Realist Art
Oil, Cotton Canvas
1980s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s Realist Art
Oil
1950s Realist Art
Oil
1920s Realist Art
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Mid-19th Century Realist Art
Oil
20th Century Realist Art
Oil
1930s Realist Art
Lithograph
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Panel
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil