Realism Paintings & Other Artworks

Featured Realism Painters

Edouard Manet was born in 1832 in Paris, France, and died in 1883. He initially studied painting under the French Academic painter Thomas Couture from 1850 to 1856, as well as copying the Old Masters in the Louvre, and absorbing influences from his travels elsewhere in Europe. The most significant influence on Manet was the founder of the Realist movement in painting, Gustav Courbet, who had pioneered painting real subjects in the present time. In 1863, Manet's painting, Luncheon on the Grass, was rejected by the Paris Salon because of its scandalous depiction of a nude woman in the company of men in modern dress, but was later exhibited in the Salon des Refuses, which Napoleon III had decreed to exhibit some 3,000 to 4,000 canvasses rejected by the Salon, including Manet's painting and many by future members of the Impressionism art movement. Manet influenced most of the Impressionists, but never considered himself one. He is clearly a bridge, however, between the Realists and the Impressionists. [More...]

Winslow Homer was born in 1836 in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in 1910. He began his art career as a magazine illustrator. During the Civil War he did sketches of the frontlines and battle scenes for Harper's Weekly. Following the war, he transitioned to being a painter, initially painting war-related scenes. In 1867 he traveled to Paris, France, for a year, where he practiced painting landscapes. In 1872, his painting, Snap the Whip, was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins are often grouped together -- Eakins, who lived and painted in Philadelphia, might have seeen Homer's painting exhibited at the Centennial Exposition, but there is no evidence that they ever met, despite evident similarities in style. Other American realist painters of the time include George Bellows, William Merritt Chase, and Thomas Anshutz. Homer's watercolor painting, which he took up increasingly later in his career, is a key influence on the Contemporary Realism art movement of the late 20th century. [More...]

Edward Hopper was born in 1882 in Nyack, New York, and died in 1967. He studied art under William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri, who also taught the painters later to form the Ashcan School, with which Hopper is sometimes loosely associated. He initially made his living as a commercial artist. Hopper didn't sell his first painting until 1913, when he was over 30, and in his first solo-exhibition, in 1920, he failed to sell a single work. In 1925 Hopper painted House by the Railroad, which marked the emergence of his mature style. In 1929 Hopper was included in the an exhibition of living American artists at the Museum of Modern Art. Hopper's paintings are notable for their depiction of the isolation and alienation of modern urban life. Later in his life he was to also become known for his paintings of New England landscapes, lighthouses, and sailing boats. [More...]