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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
Golden Glow, Oil Painting
Golden Glow, Oil Painting

Golden Glow, Oil Painting

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Artist Jose Luis Bermudez presents a tranquil lake bathed in a radiant golden light. "The atmosphere envelops this setting, providing a sense of stability and connection to the earth," says Jose Luis. The water reflects a magical and captivating effect as the sun sits low in the sky, just above the trees. Plants reach for the last rays, vibrant and full of life, while the atmosphere glows with deep yellow hues. Jose Luis invites the viewer to contemplate nature's fleeting beauty and appreciate the magic that can exist in a single moment. The painting arrives with a thin white floating frame.


About the Artist
Artist Jose Luis Bermudez brings to life natural sceneries with breathtaking detail. His realistic oil paintings invite the viewer into a captivating, serene world of golden sunsets and peaceful wetlands. “I offer a fragment of my existence, where you can escape from daily life, visit beautiful scenes and moments, or simply recall a fond memory,” says Jose Luis. Graduating in 2008 with a BA from the San Alejandro School of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba, he later shared his expertise as a painting teacher at his alma mater. In 2014, he took the leap and moved to Miami, Florida, seeking better opportunities. The decision did not come easy for Jose Luis to leave his home country. Yet, he encountered career obstacles that made him feel artists lacked the resources and opportunities for broader impact, access to more information, and improved working conditions. These challenges became the catalyst for his bold decision to make the move. Today, he paints in a spacious, well-lit studio, which he keeps clean and organized, always accompanied by piano or instrumental music. When he is not painting, he loves connecting with nature. He travels outside the city to places removed from everyday life, breathing fresh air and listening to self-improvement audio books to charge him with energy and continue.


Words that describe this painting: nature, lake, sunset, sun, water, realism, oilpaint, reflection, large, warm, grass, foliage, woods, evening, nature, realism, oil painting, yellow


Golden Glow...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Resurrection
Resurrection

Resurrection

By Chikako Okada

Located in Burlingame, CA

'Resurrection' features the head of a reclining young reddish blond haired women wearing a cloak of lady bugs. It is 6 x 8 inches, unframed, wired and ready to hang. Condition excell...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil

Watercolour on Handmade Paper Laid on Vélin d'Arches of an African Sculpture.
Watercolour on Handmade Paper Laid on Vélin d'Arches of an African Sculpture.

Watercolour on Handmade Paper Laid on Vélin d'Arches of an African Sculpture.

By La Roche Laffitte

Located in Cotignac, FR

Watercolour on handmade paper possibly of a 'Fang' figure applied to Vélin d'Arches paper by French artist La Roche Laffitte. A beautifully observed and detailed study of a Fang figure in muted brown on high quality hand-made paper. An extremely chic and elegant watercolour. This contemporary artist, born in 1943, specialises in watercolour studies on hand-made paper. With his highly detailed and precisely painted studies he invites us into the magical world of cultural objects, flora and fauna. The treasures of nature along with tribal regalia is his main inspiration. All of his work is beautifully observed and executed down to the smallest detail. The Fang are a major ethnic group of Central and West Africa and form part of the population of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon. They produce monumental anthropomorphic wooden statues, used for ritual purposes, with an aesthetic that was admired from the late nineteenth century onwards by such famous modern artists as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and André Derain. Fang sculptures...

Category

Late 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Watercolor, Handmade Paper

All Nite, Original Oil Painting

All Nite, Original Oil Painting

By Mark Harrison

Located in Denver, CO

Mark Harrison's (UK based) "All Nite" is an oil painting that depicts a dark city at night with tall buildings and an illuminated vestibule. Sometimes they are silent epic landscape...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil

"Family Recipe (Impossible Soup)" Oil Painting

"Family Recipe (Impossible Soup)" Oil Painting

By Ximena Rendon

Located in Denver, CO

Ximena Rendon's "Family Recipe (Impossible Soup)" is an original, handmade oil painting on aluminum panel that depicts two feminine models inside a kitchen with something cooking on ...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

"Oleander" (2023) by Sheri Farabaugh, Original Painting
"Oleander" (2023) by Sheri Farabaugh, Original Painting

"Oleander" (2023) by Sheri Farabaugh, Original Painting

Located in Denver, CO

"Oleander" by Shari Farabaugh (United States) is a handmade oil painting that depicts a close up view of a beautifully lit scene of blooming oleander. Sheri Farabaugh began paintin...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Pulling in the Creel Nets - British Victorian art river landscape oil painting
Pulling in the Creel Nets - British Victorian art river landscape oil painting

Pulling in the Creel Nets - British Victorian art river landscape oil painting

By Frederick Waters Watts

Located in Hagley, England

This lovely British 19th century oil painting is attributed to noted landscape painter Frederick Waters Watts. The composition is painted in great detail with superb use of colour to...

Category

19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Pocket Goldfinch 3C
Pocket Goldfinch 3C

Pocket Goldfinch 3C

By Dani Humberstone

Located in Deddington, GB

Pocket Goldfinch 3C (canvas size 5x5cm) is an original oil painting by Dani Humberstone as part of her Pocket Painting series featuring small scale realistic oil paintings, with a no...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Interstate, Oil Painting
Interstate, Oil Painting

Interstate, Oil Painting

By Jesse Aldana

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Artist Jesse Aldana presents a skyscape from a ground-level angle in realistic detail. White clouds, flattened in their haste, race across the sky. It leaves ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Cyclamen II

Cyclamen II

By Michael Mazur

Located in New York, NY

Mr. Mazur’s restless artistic temperament led him to explore a variety of styles and media, shuttling between realism and abstraction. He produced narrative paintings like “Incident ...

Category

1980s Realist Art

Materials

Monotype

Fog Ridge (Hand-printed cyanotype, 16 x 24", ed. 1 of 5)
Fog Ridge (Hand-printed cyanotype, 16 x 24", ed. 1 of 5)

Fog Ridge (Hand-printed cyanotype, 16 x 24", ed. 1 of 5)

Located in Oakland, CA

Brand-new addition to the Foggy Woods Collection of forests in northern California near San Francisco. This is a hand-printed contact photograph using the antique cyanotype process a...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Paper, Archival Paper, Rag Paper, Photogram

You Lookin' At Me?
You Lookin' At Me?

You Lookin' At Me?

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Bronze sculpture inscribed with the Artist's name and edition number. 16/50

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Bronze

Pine, Oil Painting
Pine, Oil Painting

Pine, Oil Painting

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
"This work is a representation of the unadorned beauty of nature," shares artist Jose Luis Bermudez. The clear blue sky stre...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Lantern Festival
Lantern Festival

Lantern Festival

By Mian Situ

Located in Pasadena, CA

Provenance Acquired by the gallery directly from the artist. Signed "Mian Situ" on lower left Description The subject of this oil painting by Mian Situ shows a young woman standing poised in a moment of contemplation. The Lantern Festival is a time to remember departed family members. In her deep blue silk robe...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Black Rainbow
Black Rainbow

Black Rainbow

Located in Zofingen, AG

On one hot June day, a beautiful Ethiopian girl was playing in Monahov's studio with a sparkling glass prism, watching objects refracted in the room and outside the window.. and at s...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Tempera, Wood Panel

"Glory to Ukraine!"
"Glory to Ukraine!"

"Glory to Ukraine!"

Located in Edinburgh, GB

The painting is written in honor and memory of the hero of Ukraine, Oleksandr Mitsievsky. He was shot by soldiers of the Russian army after they took him prisoner. His last words wer...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Robert Kenneth White "Velvet Wrinkles" Signed 2019 Oil of Two Shar Pei Puppies
Robert Kenneth White "Velvet Wrinkles" Signed 2019 Oil of Two Shar Pei Puppies

Robert Kenneth White "Velvet Wrinkles" Signed 2019 Oil of Two Shar Pei Puppies

Located in Miami, FL

ROBERT KENNETH WHITE – "VELVET WRINKLES" ⚜ Oil on canvas ⚜ Signed lower right ⚜ Frameless display ADORABLE SHAR PEI PORTRAIT BY ROBERT KENNETH WHITE In Velvet Wrinkles, Robert Kenneth White masterfully captures the irresistible charm of two Shar Pei puppies, their soft folds rendered with lifelike precision. The artist’s signature realism and attention to texture bring warmth, character, and humor to this endearing composition. Known for blending technical expertise with playful subject matter, White’s works are highly sought after by collectors of contemporary animal portraits. The puppies’ expressive gaze and meticulously painted wrinkles highlight the artist’s ability to elevate everyday subjects into captivating fine art. WHY COLLECT THIS WORK? ✓ Original oil by Robert Kenneth White, renowned for his lifelike portraits and charming animal studies ✓ Depicts two Shar Pei puppies with exceptional attention to texture, expression, and detail ✓ Ideal for collectors of dog art, photorealism, or contemporary figurative works ✓ Ready to hang or frame — perfect for home, office, or gallery display ARTWORK DETAILS: ▸ Title: "Velvet Wrinkles" ▸ Artist: Robert Kenneth White ▸ Medium: Oil on Canvas ▸ Year of Creation: 2019 ▸ Signature: Signed lower right ▸ Country of Origin: United States ▸ Dimensions: — ◼︎ Canvas Size: 20.125 x 24 inches ▸ Condition: Excellent ▸ Framing: Frameless Display – Ready to hang or frame INCLUDED DOCUMENTATION ✓ Certificate of Authenticity ✓ Artist Biography Document THE ARTIST: Robert Kenneth White is an acclaimed American painter celebrated for his detailed landscapes, atmospheric seascapes, and photorealistic animal portraits. Working primarily in oil, White combines technical precision with a painter’s sensitivity to mood and subject, often blending realism with gentle humor. Drawing inspiration from California’s coastal vistas, rural Americana, and domestic life, White’s works resonate with collectors seeking both aesthetic beauty and emotional connection. His signature style has earned comparisons to 20th-century realist painters such as Andrew Wyeth and John Register...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral

Located in Santa Monica, CA

A new work by the artist

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Mixed Media, Archival Paper

Koko, with her favourite ball
Koko, with her favourite ball

Koko, with her favourite ball

Located in London, GB

Vivian Evans, circa 1907 Koko, with her favourite ball signed and dated ‘VIVIAN EVANS. 1907.' (lower right) oil on canvas 10 ¾ x 15 ¾ in. (27.3 x 40 cm.) frame 17 x 22 in. (43.2 x 55...

Category

Early 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Wrong Side of the Tracks, Original Oil Painting

Wrong Side of the Tracks, Original Oil Painting

By Mark Harrison

Located in Denver, CO

Mark Harrison's (UK based) "Wrong Side of the Tracks" is an oil painting that depicts an illuminated storefront on the outskirts of a city with a towering night skyline in the the ba...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil

The Fog
The Fog

The Fog

Located in Zofingen, AG

Some time ago Evgeniy bet with his good friend that he could paint a painting where about half of it would be pure white primer but painting will look finished anyway. So this story ...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Tempera, Wood Panel

Popocatépetl, the Second Highest Peak in Mexico
Popocatépetl, the Second Highest Peak in Mexico

Popocatépetl, the Second Highest Peak in Mexico

Located in San Francisco, CA

The reason Mexican painter Rafael Huerta Carreón was referred to as "El paisajista del Estado de México" (The landscapist of the State of Mexico) was his output of works like this, t...

Category

1970s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Paris, Boulevard de la Madeleine
Paris, Boulevard de la Madeleine

Paris, Boulevard de la Madeleine

By Luigi Kasimir

Located in San Francisco, CA

This artwork titled "Paris, Boulevard de la Madeleine" c.1930, is a color etching by Austrian artist Luigi Kasimir 1881-1962. It is hand signed in pencil by the artist's estate at th...

Category

Early 20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Etching

Swanson Crush on Rooti
Swanson Crush on Rooti

Swanson Crush on Rooti

By Terry Thompson

Located in Burlingame, CA

'Swanson Crush on Rooti', oil on canvas, 40 x 60 inches, proudly presented by Andra Norris Gallery in California. Terry Thompson looks for beauty in the often overlooked, painting in...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Blue Round Trash Can

Blue Round Trash Can

Located in Columbia, MO

Born in Jefferson City Missouri in 1976 Justin Allen attended Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri where he studied filmmaking before studying painting at the Art Students Leagu...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

El Tavern (Vacancy IV)
El Tavern (Vacancy IV)

El Tavern (Vacancy IV)

By Terry Thompson

Located in Burlingame, CA

'El Tavern (Vacancy IV)', oil on canvas, unframed and 40 x 60 inches. Terry Thompson looks for beauty in the often overlooked, painting in a photorealistic style various "Pop" cultur...

Category

Early 2000s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bring It, I'm Ready
Bring It, I'm Ready

Bring It, I'm Ready

By Dean Mitchell

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original acrylic painting signed by the Artist on the lower right corner.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Acrylic

Hamburg, Michael's Church, Germany
Hamburg, Michael's Church, Germany

Hamburg, Michael's Church, Germany

By Josef Eidenberger

Located in San Francisco, CA

This artwork titled "Hamburg, Michael's Church, Germany" c.1950 is a color etching on Wove paper by noted Austrian artist Josef Eidenberger, 1899-1991. It is hand signed and titled in pencil by the artist. Published/printed by Graphics International, Austria. The plate mark (image) size is 13 x 9.15 inches, sheet size is 18 x 13.75 inches. It is in excellent condition, has never been framed. About the artist. Josef Eidenberger was born in 1899 in the little town of Goisern, Austria,he began his artistic career as a landscape painter. In 1923 he enrolled in the famed Graphic Academy of Art in Vienna and studied under Professor Alfred Cossman. His recognized talent brought him many commissions from city officials and members of the business communities throughout Europe, especially in Austria and Germany. In 1973 after visiting the United States for the first time he created a series of California etchings...

Category

Mid-20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Etching

Not Again

Not Again

By Raymond Gibby

Located in Colorado Springs, CO

Original bronze sculpture by artist Raymond Gibby. Edition AP2/30.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Bronze

"Matalascañas Beach" Original Oil and Acrylic Painting
"Matalascañas Beach" Original Oil and Acrylic Painting

"Matalascañas Beach" Original Oil and Acrylic Painting

Located in Denver, CO

Conrado López's "Matalascañas Beach," a 2023 piece, is a small but powerful acrylic and oil painting on canvas, measuring 5 x 5 inches (12.70 x 12.70 cm). Encased within a frame that...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

The Beginning of the Road
The Beginning of the Road

The Beginning of the Road

Located in Zofingen, AG

In my artwork, I explore the symbolic intersection of journey's end and new beginnings. Using acrylics, I depict a person next to their classic car by a "road ends" sign. The spaciou...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

"Flemish genre tavern scene"
"Flemish genre tavern scene"

"Flemish genre tavern scene"

Located in Edinburgh, GB

Unidentified Artist 17th-Century Tavern Scene Oil on canvas Framed: 113 x 103 cm Canvas: 96 x 91 cm This 17th-century oil painting captures a lively tavern scene, a popular subject in Dutch and Flemish genre painting of the Golden Age. The composition is rich in character and storytelling, depicting a group of men engaged in a card game, with coins, letters, and drinks scattered across the table. A standing woman, possibly a barmaid or concerned onlooker, leans in, while a man enters from the left, holding his hat and appearing amused by the game. In the foreground, a small child tends to a jug and tankard, adding a touch of humor and domestic realism. Executed in oil on canvas, the painting showcases earthy, warm tones and rich chiaroscuro, emphasizing the candlelit glow of the scene. The artist masterfully captures the textures of fabrics, wood, and metal, giving depth and dimension to the environment. The expressive faces and animated gestures highlight the social interactions typical of Dutch and Flemish tavern paintings...

Category

17th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Red-Tailed Hawk on the Hunt, Original Painting
Red-Tailed Hawk on the Hunt, Original Painting

Red-Tailed Hawk on the Hunt, Original Painting

By Emil Morhardt

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
Artist Emil Morhardt paints a swooping hawk he observed circling the sky and then landing on a tall nearby tree. The bird inspects the many gopher holes nearby. Emil captures it just as it launches a successful attack—painting the plumage with fine detailed brushwork and intense colors against a pure white background. The piece embodies the essence of this powerful raptor.


About the Artist
Emil Morhardt is an acrylic painter from Santa Barbara, California who expresses his passion for birds through realistic acrylic paintings. He paints at home in a studio room that has large windows and a north-facing view of the mountains. He observes the animals from this window, watching roadrunners, foxes, bobcats, deer, and coyote run by. Surrounded by this wildlife, Emil paints bird portraits reminiscent of those by artist John James Audubon. He bases his paintings off hundreds of photographs he takes of birds in the wild and at wildlife recovery centers. Emil captures the freedom and inquisitiveness that birds display...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Acrylic

Nineteenth Century Landscape of a River Bank by an Unknown Artist
Nineteenth Century Landscape of a River Bank by an Unknown Artist

Nineteenth Century Landscape of a River Bank by an Unknown Artist

Located in Philadelphia, PA

Unknown (American, nineteenth century) River Bank Oil on canvas, 9 x 13 1/2 inches Unsigned Framed: 13 1/2 x 18 inches (approx.)

Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Winter Harvest, Original Painting
Winter Harvest, Original Painting

Winter Harvest, Original Painting

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist Comments
A rustic barn stands covered in snow, its deep red walls contrasting with the icy blue landscape. The sky glows warmly. Inspired by a scene from the televisio...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Acrylic

"Ivano-Frankivsk"
"Ivano-Frankivsk"

"Ivano-Frankivsk"

Located in Edinburgh, GB

Ivano-Frankivsk. Summer glow of the city Oleksandr Khrapachov, 2013 Canvas, oil • 50×70 cm --- In this work, Oleksandr Khrapachov masterfully captures a moment of a summer day in ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Contemporary portrait "Together"
Contemporary portrait "Together"

Contemporary portrait "Together"

Located in Zofingen, AG

The memory of the festive Coca-Cola commercial came to mind, where a truck adorned with holiday lights rushes along the night road. There's no festive truck... Only the night and the...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

"Wrapped" (2020) By Daud Akhriev, Original Oil Painting
"Wrapped" (2020) By Daud Akhriev, Original Oil Painting

"Wrapped" (2020) By Daud Akhriev, Original Oil Painting

Located in Denver, CO

Daud Akhriev's (EUR and US based) "Wrapped" (2020) is an original, handmade oil painting. Artist Biography: The Soviet educational system singled out 8-year-old Daud Akhriev for spe...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

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.