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.
Find authentic realist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
Horse-Drawn Carriages in Front of the Caltagirone City Museum
Located in Middletown, NY
Vintage gelatin silver print on baryta paper, 11 3/4 x 9 in. (300 x 228 mm), printed to edge. Photographer's credit sticker on verso, with penciled title "Caltagirone" and negative n...
Photographic Paper
$2,400
Monte Carlo, Monaco, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a man and a woman on jet skis off the coast of Monte Carlo, Monaco. This is an estate-stamped and hand...
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$4,500
Buddleja: Large Signed Limited Edition Contemporary Botanical Photograph, black
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This is a signed, limited edition (of 5) framed botanical photograph of a curving Buddleja stem covered in tiny orange and yellow blossoms on a black background. This piece pairs bea...
Metal
Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers in a motorboat off the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera. This is ...
Lambda
$3,600
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features cars and pedestrians on the busy seafront at Saint-Tropez, in South-Eastern France, September. This is an ...
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Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people waterskiing from the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, France. This is an estate-stamped...
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Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people waterskiing from the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes, France. This is an estate-stamped...
Lambda
$2,400
French Holiday, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers in France in August 1969. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered edition of 150 wi...
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Riviera Crowd, French Riviera, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers enjoying lunch by a pool on the French Riviera. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbe...
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Riviera Crowd, French Riviera, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1950s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers enjoying lunch by a pool on the French Riviera. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbe...
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Hotel De Paris In Monaco, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the entrance to the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Monaco. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered...
Lambda
$1,800
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features two young women, one wearing a kaftan, stepping onto a yacht on the waterfront at Saint-Tropez, Franc...
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Hotel De Paris In Monaco, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the entrance to the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Monaco. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered...
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Lake Tenaya in Yosemite - Black & White Landscape Photograph
By Jeff Nixon
Located in Soquel, CA
Lake Tenaya in Yosemite - Black & White Landscape Photograph Beautiful black and white landscape photograph of Lake Tenaya by Jeff Nixon (American, 1952-2022). Along the bottom ...
Paper, Silver Gelatin
Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a view from a hillside in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, southeastern France, looking toward Monaco, August 1970. ...
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Fishing Boats, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features fishing nets and boats on the shore in Mexico. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered editio...
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Japan – Inland Sea at Bingo
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1880. Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm), numbered A 425 and titled at lower right; very light toning on the edges. Unmounted; housed...
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
Holiday in Boston, Massachusetts, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1950s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, shows people during a sailing holiday on Barclay (Buzzy) H. Warburton III's brigantine 'Black Pearl', 1959. ...
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Natale Rusconi, Venice, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Natale Rusconi riding a Hotel Cipriani motor launch with the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore on San Giorgio Maggiore island beyond, in Venice, Italy, in September 1978. Slim Aarons ...
Lambda
$3,000
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers on the deck of a yacht in Saint-Tropez, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-num...
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Ardizzone's House, Portofino, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Overlooking Ardizzone's House, on the water's edge in Portofino, Italy, July 1985. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim...
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Ardizzone's House, Portofino, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Overlooking Ardizzone's House, on the water's edge in Portofino, Italy, July 1985. Slim Aarons Estate Edition, Certificate of Authenticity included Numbered and stamped by the Slim...
Lambda
$2,400
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers on the deck of a yacht in Saint-Tropez, France. This is an estate-stamped and hand-num...
Lambda
Chateau Saint-Martin, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1980s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features people having breakfast on the verandah of the Chateau Saint-Martin, a luxury hotel in Vence on the Cot...
Lambda
$3,600
Palm Beach, Florida, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1950s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features two bikini-clad holidaymakers enjoy a glass of wine outside the Carlton Hotel, Cannes. This is an est...
Lambda
$1,080Sale Price|20% Off
Mt Lyell Clouds, Yosemite - Black & White California Landscape Photograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Elegant hand signed black & white photo highlighting the sharp contrast between the Yosemite mountain range of Mt. Lyell and the beautiful clouds above by Charles Cramer (American, b...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Kirk Douglas In Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features American actor Kirk Douglas (right) prepares to go waterskiing at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Anti...
Lambda
$2,400
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features holidaymakers lounging on the deck of their luxury yacht in Saint-Tropez, France. This is an estate-...
Lambda
$4,200
Party Preparations, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art dealer Joseph Linsk, and other guests at the Kaufmann ...
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Theater House, Kobe – Original hand-colored Meiji era photograph, Japan
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: 1890s. Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm), captioned in negative at lower right. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat with clear mounti...
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
$3,600
Lounging In Bermuda, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Jill Council relaxing with a drink by a swimming pool in Bermuda, November 1969. This is an estat...
Lambda
$450
Cabernet Franc: Signed, Limited Edition Botanical Photograph of grapes on black
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This is a signed, limited edition (of 10) framed botanical photograph of a bunch of ripe, dark grapes on the vine on a black background. It is printed on a thin, durable aluminum pan...
Metal
$3,000
Private Island, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests relaxing on the beach of a private island owned by Philippine Airlines President, Benigno T...
Lambda
Tamadare Waterfall Hakone, hand-colored Meiji era photograph, Japan
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1900. Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches (200 x 260 mm); numbered B 435 and captioned on lower right corner. Unmounted; housed in an archival mat wi...
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
Kiyomizu Temple, Nagasaki – Original hand-colored Meiji era photograph, Japan
Located in Middletown, NY
Original Photograph / Photographer unattributed Yokohama, Japan: 1890s. Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches (198 x 260 mm), numbered in negative 40, and captioned at lo...
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
Pop And Society, Ireland, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late 1960s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features, from left to right; singer Marianne Faithfull, the Honorable Desmond Guinness and Mick Jagger (of ...
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Catch Up by the Pool, California, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art deale...
Lambda
$1,800
Castello Di Paraggi, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Castello di Paraggi near Portofino, Italy, August. This is an estate-stamped and hand-numbered ed...
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Wisteria Blossoms Kameido Tokyo – hand-colored Meiji era photograph, Japan
Located in Middletown, NY
Yokohama, Japan: c 1900. Hand-tinted albumen print, 7 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (190 x 242 mm), numbered A 536 in negative and captioned on lower right. Unmounted; housed in an archival ma...
Watercolor, Photographic Paper
Versailles, Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe, 1904, No. 6483
By Eugène Atget
Located in Middletown, NY
Albumen silver print from glass negative, 8 1/2 x 7 inches (215 x 178 mm). From the artist's series on sculptures on the grounds of Versailles. Annotated in Atget's hand in pencil o...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Parrot Jungle, Miami, Estate Edition, Portrait Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1955 portrait photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features a family day out at the Parrot Jungle amusement park near Miami. This is an estate stamped and...
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Dining Al Fresco On Capri, Italy, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1980s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Italian artist and actress Domiziana Giordano, Italian author Francesca Sanvitale (1928 - 2011), Dino...
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Italian Hotelier, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Proprietor Andre Sella outside the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969...
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Palm Springs Pool, Florida, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace) and Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art dealer J...
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Photographic print, hand signed and inscribed by Helen Frankenthaler, framed
Located in New York, NY
Helen Frankenthaler Hand signed and inscribed photograph, ca. 1987 Photograph printed on offset lithograph Hand signed and inscribed by Helen Frankenthaler on the front Frame Include...
Lithograph, Offset
Italian Hotelier, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Proprietor Andre Sella outside the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969...
Lambda
$3,000
Orchid: Signed Limited Edition Contemporary Botanical Photograph, on black
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
This is a signed, limited edition (of 10) framed botanical photograph of a long orchid stem covered in blooms on a black background. It is printed on a thin, durable aluminum panel. ...
Metal
Poolside Gaze, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art de...
Lambda
$5,400
Saint-Tropez, France, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features two young women, one wearing a kaftan, stepping onto a yacht on the waterfront at Saint-Tropez, Franc...
Lambda
Italian Hotelier, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features Proprietor Andre Sella outside the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August 1969...
Lambda
$5,400
Sundowners, Cannes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1950s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features two bikini-clad holidaymakers enjoy a glass of wine outside the Carlton Hotel, Cannes. This is an est...
Lambda
Poolside Poodle, Palm Springs, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace), Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art dealer Jose...
Lambda
Palm Springs Pool, Florida, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This 1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features former fashion model Helen Dzo Dzo Kaptur (in white lace) and Nelda Linsk (in yellow), wife of art dealer J...
Lambda
Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, captures an aerial view of the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera. This is an estate-stampe...
Lambda
Private Island, Philippines, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests relaxing on the beach of a private island owned by Philippine Airlines President, Benigno T...
Lambda
Hotel Punta Tragara, Capri, Italy, Mid-Century Modern Estate Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Hotel Punta Tragara on Capri, Italy. This is an estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150...
Lambda
$3,600
Hpaung Daw U Pagoda, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This early 1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features boatmen, using the local leg rowing technique, approaching the Hpaung Daw U Pagoda on Inle Lake in...
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Hotel Punta Tragara, Italy, Estate Edition Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This mid-1970s photograph, captured by society photographer Slim Aarons, features the Hotel Punta Tragara on Capri, Italy. This is an estate stamped and hand numbered edition of 150...
Lambda
$1,450
Omicidio nella zona di Partinico (Homicide in the area of Partinico / Palermo)
Located in Middletown, NY
Vintage gelatin silver print. Image dimensions 7 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. (197 x 242 mm), printed to edge, bottom left corner stlightly bent Photographer's copyright stamp and credit sticker ...
Photographic Paper
Alfresco Dining, Antibes, Estate Edition, Mid-Century Modern Photograph
By Slim Aarons
Located in Los Angeles, CA
This late-1960s photograph, taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, features guests dining at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on the French Riviera, August. This is an estat...
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