Realist Animal Paintings
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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1980s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Silk, Watercolor, Handmade Paper, Carbon Pencil, Gouache
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Silk, Watercolor, Gouache, Handmade Paper, Carbon Pencil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Early 20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Acrylic, Postcard
Late 20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
Mid-20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Watercolor, Gouache
Mid-20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Silk, Watercolor, Gouache, Handmade Paper, Carbon Pencil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Panel, Oil
1940s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
1990s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Panel, Oil
Early 2000s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Mixed Media, Board
1960s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Wax, Oil, Birch
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Linen
1880s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1910s Realist Animal Paintings
Paper, Charcoal, Gouache
Artist Comments
A pair of little woodpeckers perch on opposite sides of a branch, busy probing the small holes they've made for fresh tree sap. The intricate features of their plumage and the textured bark create a striking contrast against the stark white background. Rendered in vibrant colors and fine detail, artist Emil Morhardt brings this charming scene to life.
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 Animal Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
1920s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Board
19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Silk, Watercolor, Gouache, Handmade Paper, Carbon Pencil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Copper
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Board
Mid-19th Century Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Metal
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Board
Artist Comments
A pair of sandhill cranes stand on opposite sides, their intense eyes seemingly watching each other's backs. Their stoic stance accentuates as the pond they inhabit fades into the grayish rainy mist of California's Central Valley in early winter. Rendered with a loose, watercolor-like technique, the birds' portrayal carries an expressive touch.
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 Animal Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Animal Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Mixed Media, Board
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil
2010s Realist Animal Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel