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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
Beach & Ocean Impressionistic Seascape Oil Painting with Dunes by Michael Budden
Beach & Ocean Impressionistic Seascape Oil Painting with Dunes by Michael Budden

Beach & Ocean Impressionistic Seascape Oil Painting with Dunes by Michael Budden

By Michael Budden

Located in Chesterfield, NJ

Dunes & Beach Path 11 x 14 unframed and 16.5 x 19.5 framed signed LL Dunes & Beach Path is an oil painting on panel by award winning contemporary artist Michael Budden that showcases...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Red Fox Realist Oil Painting Pencil Drawing Offset Print Framed Michael Budden
Red Fox Realist Oil Painting Pencil Drawing Offset Print Framed Michael Budden

Red Fox Realist Oil Painting Pencil Drawing Offset Print Framed Michael Budden

By Michael Budden

Located in Chesterfield, NJ

Red Fox Triptych The framed dimensions are 38.25 x 18.50 Here is a very unique wildlife piece featuring the beautiful Red Fox I did many years ago when i was painting wildlife. It i...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Offset

"Italianizing landscape"
"Italianizing landscape"

"Italianizing landscape"

By Adriaen van Diest

Located in Edinburgh, GB

Adriaen van Diest (1655-1704) – "Italianizing Landscape" Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions (Framed): 102 x 122 cm Dimensions (Flat): 74 x 106 cm Signature: Lower right corner Frame: O...

Category

17th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Velvet lilac"
"Velvet lilac"

"Velvet lilac"

By Svetlana Lazareva

Located in Edinburgh, GB

A Moment Before the Curtain A mesmerizingly intimate scene from the ballet's backstage life unfolds on the canvas. The artist's gaze, cast from a lofty vantage point, transforms the ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

LARGE OIL PAINTING JOHN WILSON CARICHAEL 1799 -1868
LARGE OIL PAINTING JOHN WILSON CARICHAEL 1799 -1868

LARGE OIL PAINTING JOHN WILSON CARICHAEL 1799 -1868

By John Wilson Carmichael

Located in Ferndown, GB

OIL PAINTING ATTR to JOHN WILSON CARICHAEL 1799 to 1868 FINE 19th CENTURY BRITISH Original Antique Large Early 19th Century British OIL PAINTING Romantic Sea Scene GOLD GILT FRAME ...

Category

19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Hallucination
Hallucination

Hallucination

By Nataliya Bagatskaya

Located in Zofingen, AG

The painting conveys the idea that what we perceive as life may be an illusion, while the true reality remains hidden. At the center of the scene, a man and a woman stand by a pool, ...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

Cup of coffee and tangerine
Cup of coffee and tangerine

Cup of coffee and tangerine

By Irina Trushkova

Located in Zofingen, AG

"Cup of coffee and tangerine” is a celebration of the beauty that can be found in the simplest of things. The style of the painting is inspired by the Holland masters of the 17th cen...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Still Life With Cups And Saucers, Realist Oil on Canvas, Framed
Still Life With Cups And Saucers, Realist Oil on Canvas, Framed

Still Life With Cups And Saucers, Realist Oil on Canvas, Framed

By Vitali Miagkov

Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL

Still Life With Cups and Saucers Artist signed, canvas 24hx48w, beautiful custom made silver-gold frame. Mr. Miagkov was born in Ukraine in 1936 and had formal training from the Odes...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Oil

Fishermen Sailors at Sea - Scottish Victorian art marine portrait oil painting
Fishermen Sailors at Sea - Scottish Victorian art marine portrait oil painting

Fishermen Sailors at Sea - Scottish Victorian art marine portrait oil painting

By Patrick William Orr

Located in Hagley, England

This charming Scottish Victorian oil painting is by noted Scottish artist Patrick William Orr. Painted circa 1880, this marine portrait is of two fishermen sailors at sea, sorting th...

Category

19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Ocean Crashing against Rocks, Isles of Shoals
Ocean Crashing against Rocks, Isles of Shoals

Ocean Crashing against Rocks, Isles of Shoals

By Frank Waller

Located in Philadelphia, PA

Frank Waller (American, 1842-1923) Ocean Crashing against Rocks, Isles of Shoals Oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 20 1/4 inches FRAMED: 15 x 26 inches (approx.) Note: while this work is unsi...

Category

Early 1900s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Round Portrait of a Black and White Terrier" French 19th Century
"Round Portrait of a Black and White Terrier" French 19th Century

"Round Portrait of a Black and White Terrier" French 19th Century

Located in SANTA FE, NM

"Round Portrait of a Black and White Terrier," French, 19th Century, circa 1850s Oil on wood panel Unsigned. 9 x 9 inches frame One of a pair of charming portraits of Black White Te...

Category

1850s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

New York City Painting Michael Budden Evening On Broadway St James & Sardis
New York City Painting Michael Budden Evening On Broadway St James & Sardis

New York City Painting Michael Budden Evening On Broadway St James & Sardis

By Michael Budden

Located in Chesterfield, NJ

Evening On Broadway, St. James & Sardi's Image is 10 x 8 unframed, 15.5 x 13.5 framed. An acrylic painting on canvas panel by award winning contemporary artist Michael Budden that...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Acrylic

Roosters and Hens in a Barn 19th century E. Binam
Roosters and Hens in a Barn 19th century E. Binam

Roosters and Hens in a Barn 19th century E. Binam

Located in SANTA FE, NM

Roosters and Hens in a Barn 19th century E. Binam (Belgian? 19th century) Signed lower left Oil on wood panel 8 1/4 x 5 /12 (10 1/4 x 13 1/4 frame) Though little is known about E. ...

Category

1890s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

After the Rain...
After the Rain...

After the Rain...

By Nataliya Bagatskaya

Located in Zofingen, AG

The quiet after a recent rain sets the stage, revealing a tranquil landscape. A vintage convertible and a solitary figure by an ice machine evoke a nostalgic, timeless scene. This ar...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

British Chalk Pencil Sketch of a Horse and Farmers Preparing The Hay Cart
British Chalk Pencil Sketch of a Horse and Farmers Preparing The Hay Cart

British Chalk Pencil Sketch of a Horse and Farmers Preparing The Hay Cart

By John Rabone Harvey

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

John Rabone Harvey ( 1966 - 1922) graphic and chalk deep green artist paper , unframed artist paper : 5.5 x 7 inches Provenance: private collection Condition: very good condition Dou...

Category

Mid-19th Century Realist Art

Materials

Chalk, Graphite

The Port of Newcastle Upon Tyne - British 1914 marine art oil painting
The Port of Newcastle Upon Tyne - British 1914 marine art oil painting

The Port of Newcastle Upon Tyne - British 1914 marine art oil painting

By Joseph Henry Kirsop

Located in Hagley, England

This lovely historically interesting British marine oil painting is by Newcastle artist Joseph Henry Kirsop. Painted in 1914, the location of the painting is the port of Newcastle up...

Category

1910s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

"Ensemble of Austrian artists"
"Ensemble of Austrian artists"

"Ensemble of Austrian artists"

Located in Edinburgh, GB

Franz Rotter (1900–1944) – "Ensemble of Austrian Artists" Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 176 x 288 cm (unframed), 181 x 295 cm (framed) Signature: Lower left corner Provenance: Pr...

Category

20th Century Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sagres Ship Portrait signed oil painting
Sagres Ship Portrait signed oil painting

Sagres Ship Portrait signed oil painting

By Louis Letouche

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Sagres, 1937 by Louis Letouche (French 1924-2015) oil painting on linen canvas, stretched over board framed Framed size: 16 x 19 inches Superb oil painting by the well listed French marine artist Louis Letouche (1924-2015). The painting portrays the early 20th Century ship titled: Sagres, 1937. The three-masted ship was launched under the name Albert Leo Schlageter on 30 October 1937 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. The ship was named after Albert Leo Schlageter, who was executed in 1923 by French forces occupying the Ruhr area. Her first commander was Bernhard Rogge. Sagres is a sister ship of the Gorch Fock, the Horst Wessel, and the Romanian training vessel Mircea. Another sister, Herbert Norkus, was not completed, while Gorch Fock II was built in 1958 by the Germans to replace the ships lost after the war. Following a number of international training voyages, the ship was used as a stationary office ship after the outbreak of World War II and was only put into ocean-going service again in 1944 in the Baltic Sea. On 14 November 1944 she hit a Soviet mine off Sassnitz and had to be towed to port in Swinemünde. Eventually transferred to Flensburg, she was taken over there by the Allies when the war ended and finally confiscated by the United States. In 1948, the U.S. sold her to Brazil for a symbolic price of $5,000 USD. She was towed to Rio de Janeiro where she sailed as a school ship for the Brazilian Navy under the name Guanabara. In 1961, Ambassador Teotónio Pereira of Portugal, who was also a man of the sea...

Category

1990s Realist Art

Materials

Oil

Puppy Dog & Kitten Greeting Card Illustration painting (Children's room decor)
Puppy Dog & Kitten Greeting Card Illustration painting (Children's room decor)

Puppy Dog & Kitten Greeting Card Illustration painting (Children's room decor)

By Ferd Sondern

Located in Wilton Manors, FL

Ferd Sondern (b.1923) Puppy and Bluebird, 1977. Pencil, gouache and watercolor on illustration board. Complete panel measures 7 x 7.5 inches. Signed lower left. Credited on verso...

Category

1970s Realist Art

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Illustration Board

"Still Life with Architectural Columns and Pear" by Leon Olmo 31 x 52 inches
"Still Life with Architectural Columns and Pear" by Leon Olmo 31 x 52 inches

"Still Life with Architectural Columns and Pear" by Leon Olmo 31 x 52 inches

By Leon Olmo

Located in Atlanta, GA

Item is in excellent condition and has only been displayed in a gallery setting. With frame dimensions are approximately 44" x 64" Leon Olmo was born in Moron de la Frontera at the end of the 1940's beginning at a young age to study drawing and wax technique. From heightened stimulation incredible still-lifes are produced from the nearby aromas of lemons, jasmine, pomegranates, and medlars, fruits which often appear throughout his paintings. Olmo is a self-taught painter, reaching the status as one of Seville’s most talented artists through strict perseverance in drawing and painting. Working until complete exhaustion, Olmo attempts to capture all of himself with every image he creates. For Olmo, neatness and cleanliness go hand in hand when creating a work of art. Though he denies traditional academicism, Olmo does utilize a methodical approach in each painting that begins with strict preparation of the fibrapan board upon which he paints. Beginning with a primer composed of calcium sulfate and glue, he sands the board’s surface until smooth. This regimented routine is in accord with Olmo’s insistence of maintaining neatness and cleanliness for he has rejected the use of canvas where any imperfection is not up to standard. He then picks juicy fresh fruits from their trees and retrieves wooden boards from a collection that he has acquired over the years during walks with his father. Arranging the objects for the desired effect, the outcome will be a play of shadows between the background and brilliant center of the composition. With the brush he draws simple motifs and leaves layers of paint until he achieves a magic luminosity, where the observer can actually see through space, a transparent quality distinctly from the hand of Olmo. The recreation of natural elements in his paintings is to remind the observer of humanity’s material nature. The symbolic use of jasmine is special to the artist, in order to represent the grandeur of small things, six petals with an incredible scent which contain within them the magic of the artist and of his Andalusian land. Olmo’s dreamlike masterpieces contain human warmth that has an unsurpassable way of working their way into the hearts and minds of his collectors. Leon Olmo and his son Leon Reina make up a father and son painting...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Board

"Baa-Relief" Aaron Bohrod, Pun Humor, Magic Realism, Sheep, Lamb
"Baa-Relief" Aaron Bohrod, Pun Humor, Magic Realism, Sheep, Lamb

"Baa-Relief" Aaron Bohrod, Pun Humor, Magic Realism, Sheep, Lamb

By Aaron Bohrod

Located in New York, NY

Aaron Bohrod Baa-Relief, 1986 Signed lower left Oil on gesso panel 8 x 10 inches Aaron Bohrod's work has not been limited to one style or medium. Initially recognized as a regionalist painter of American scenes, particularly of his native Chicago, Bohrod later devoted himself to detailed still-life paintings rendered in the trompe l'oeil style. He also worked for several years in ceramics and wrote a book on pottery. Born in 1907, Bohrod began his studies at Chicago's Crane Junior College in 1925, and two years later enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago. But it was at the Art Students League in New York City, from 1930 to 1932, that he studied under the man believed to be his most significant early influence, John Sloan. Sloan's romantic realism is reflected in the many depictions of Chicago life...

Category

1980s Realist Art

Materials

Oil, Board

A seascape with waves III
A seascape with waves III

A seascape with waves III

By Serghei Ghetiu

Located in Zofingen, AG

In this painting, I poured my passion into capturing the relentless energy and beauty of the sea. The waves’ movement and light play embody both power and serenity, inviting you to f...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sleepyhead
Sleepyhead

Sleepyhead

By Evgeniy Monahov

Located in Zofingen, AG

While working with a model in the studio, it often happens that models get tired and fall asleep - such moments are beautiful in their naturalness and often become the impetus for cr...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Paper, Tempera, Permanent Marker

Whopper
Whopper

Whopper

By Ihar Sviancicki

Located in Zofingen, AG

Original oil painting on canvas, still life painting made under natural light. This artwork is painted using high-quality fine linen canvas. Signed on the front and back of artwork. ...

Category

2010s Realist Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

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.