Realism is defined by the accurate, unembellished, and detailed depiction of nature or contemporary life. The movement prefers an observation of physical appearance rather than imagination or idealization. In this sense, Realism can be found in movements of many other centuries.

The mid 19th century Realist movement chose to paint common, ordinary, sometimes ugly images rather than the stiff, conventional pictures favored by upper-class society. It was an opposition to the traditional approach to Neoclassicism and the drama of Romanticism. Furthermore, advocates of the style were no longer preoccupied with the expectations of the Salons, Academies, or other art institutions. Realists strived to paint scenes as they actually appeared. Often the artists depicted ugly and common subjects that normally alluded to a social, political, or moral message. Never really becoming a solid, unified movement, the closest Realist group was the Barbizon School of landscape painting, headed by Corot and Millet in France. American realists included Thomas Eakins and Henry Ossawa Tanner, who both studied in France. Realism was influential in the development of many later movements including The Ash Can School, the American Scene Painters, and much later Contemporary Realis

Artists: (biography & artworks) Related Paintings Reproductions

Bastien-Lepage, Jules - 1848 - 1884
Bonheur, Rosa - 1822 - 1899
Bonvin, Francois - 1817 - 1887
Brown, Grafton T. - 1841 - 1918
Carpeaux, Jean-Baptiste - 1827 - 1875
Cornelius, Peter - 1783 - 1867
Courbet, Gustave - 1819 - 1877
Dalou, Jules - 1838 - 1902
Daumier, Honore - 1808 - 1879
Fantin-Latour, Henri - 1836 - 1904
Forain, Jean-Louis - 1852 - 1931
Freud, Lucian - 1922 -
Guys, Constantin - 1802 - 1892
Kobke, Christen - 1810 - 1848
Kollwitz, Kathe - 1867 - 1945
Larsson, Carl - 1853 - 1919
Leibl, Wilhelm - 1844 - 1900
Munkacsy, Mihaly - 1844 - 1900
Sorolla y Bastida, Joaquin - 1863 - 1923
Whistler, James Abbott McNeill - 1834 - 1903