Find your next artwork from our online gallery of contemporary realistic art for sale. Realistic art is characterised by subjects painted in anything from a natural to an almost photographic way.
You can kick things off by browsing our Realistic Paintings, which represent a depth of subjects – from portraits, to still life and even the cosmos – in photorealistic precision.
Our curated collection of realistic art for sale continues with realistic photography, which captures subjects and landscapes with expert technical accuracy.
For something a little different, explore Realistic Collage – an approach which combines natural forms with unexpected combinations. These handcrafted realistic landscape artworks are filled with surprising twists and dreamlike compositions.
Famous realist artworks and artists
The Realism style is partially inspired by the French Realism movement that emerged in the 1840s, as a rejection of the subjectivity of Romanticism. The 19th century movement was designed to depict modern life honestly and impartially – bringing ordinary, working-class people into the realm of ‘high art’ as factually as possible. Leading French realists of the period include Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet, renowned for their paintings of peasant workers and scenes of countryside labour.
This truthful approach laid the foundations for contemporary Realism, which extends the tradition by incorporating modern techniques and pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Modern realists create high-quality photorealistic art pieces which aim to rival or surpass technological abilities.
Some contemporary artists known for their work in Realism include Chuck Close, who created large-scale photorealist self-portraits across a grid structure. Close was renowned for combining realistic accuracy with the abstraction of a technological format. Likewise, American artist Alyssa Monks is renowned for her hyperrealistic oil paintings. In these artworks she depicts figures behind fogged glass or water, giving a blurred, almost dreamlike quality to her work, while maintaining high realism.
Realist artwork for sale on Rise Art
Some of our most striking realistic artworks are photographic. Award-winning Dutch artist Jenny Boot](/artist/65133/bootjenny), began her career as a painter before turning to photography as a more precise medium of expression. Artworks like Origin (2022), showcase Boot’s mastery of the photographic medium, expertly manipulating light and shadow to capture intricate subtleties in expression.
Following the tradition of the 19th century French Realists, Georgia Peskett is a painter whose work depicts the unremarkable elements of daily life that are often ignored. Vigil (2022) sees Peskett expertly recreate the effect of mist through windows by carefully building up oil and pastel marks on a silk canvas.
Likewise, Karen Turner reveals the remarkable in the everyday by critiquing assumptions about larger bodies and subverting society’s narrow beauty standards. Turner’s figurative oil paintings embrace every curve of her models in a frank and sex-positive manner. Paintings like Are There Any Questions? (2021), frame fat women as confident and sexually liberated – depicting a reality which is often silenced in mainstream media.
You can explore and purchase more affordable realistic figure art by emerging artists at Rise Art.
