Sanchez Barbudo
Early 1900s Realist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1880s Realist Figurative Paintings
Wood Panel, Oil
1880s Realist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Cardboard
People Also Browsed
Vintage 1920s Paintings
Paint
1870s Symbolist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Antique Early 1900s Italian Victorian Paintings
Gold Leaf
Antique Mid-18th Century European Paintings
Wood
18th Century Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
17th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
19th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1820s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
18th Century Portrait Paintings
Oil
18th Century Old Masters Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Vintage 1960s American Paintings
Wood, Canvas
Vintage 1970s Italian Baroque Decorative Boxes
Sterling Silver, Enamel
Antique 19th Century Italian Baroque Paintings
Papercord
Vintage 1960s Italian Art Nouveau Decorative Boxes
Crystal, Gold Plate, Sterling Silver
Late 20th Century Elizabethan Paintings
Canvas, Paint
Vintage 1970s Italian Baroque Decorative Boxes
Gold Plate, Sterling Silver, Enamel
Recent Sales
1890s Realist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Vintage 1960s Cuban Paintings
A Close Look at 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.
Find authentic realist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.