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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2010s Realist Art
Oil, Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Canvas, Acrylic
1930s Realist Art
Bronze
1910s Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Watercolor, Paper
Late 19th Century Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil
1840s Realist Art
Oil, Panel
Late 19th Century Realist Art
Oil
1930s Realist Art
Oil
1910s Realist Art
Oil
Early 1900s Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Panel
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Mosaic, Acrylic
1960s Realist Art
Lithograph
20th Century Realist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil
1930s Realist Art
Oil, Linen
Mid-20th Century Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Paper, Permanent Marker, Tempera
2010s Realist Art
Paper, Permanent Marker, Tempera
Mid-20th Century Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Watercolor, Paper
Mid-20th Century Realist Art
Oil
1940s Realist Art
Oil
20th Century Realist Art
Pencil
1910s Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Realist Art
Panel, Oil
Mid-20th Century Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Paper, Permanent Marker, Tempera
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
1670s Realist Art
Engraving
2010s Realist Art
Paper, Tempera, Permanent Marker
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Pencil, Paper, Graphite
2010s Realist Art
Tempera, Paper, Permanent Marker
2010s Realist Art
Paper, Tempera, Permanent Marker
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Board, Oil
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Pencil, Paper, Graphite
2010s Realist Art
Paper, Permanent Marker, Tempera
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Board, Linen, Oil
19th Century Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Marble
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Art
Oil, Linen
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Wood Panel, Oil
Early 1900s Realist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Pencil, Paper, Graphite
Artist Comments
It's a peaceful morning, with the sun shining brightly and reflecting its warm light on the pebbles on the riverbed. The trees provide a comforting shade, creat...
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Oil
2010s Realist Art
Paper, Permanent Marker, Tempera
2010s Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
1990s Realist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Paper, Pencil, Graphite
Late 20th Century Realist Art
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Emil Morhardt depicts a family of aquatic birds he saw in a northern Iceland lake. "The mother bird saw me and swam across to proudly show off her chick," says Emil. With near-photographic detail, the subjects stand out vividly against a clean white background.
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...
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Art
Acrylic