Often considered as the beginning of Modern Art, The Realism Movement began in France in the mid 1800's. Realism paintings were a reaction to the previous Romanticism genre and many artists of this movement attracted great controversy. Realism oil paintings desired to show life in art as it really was as a result of the French Revolution in 1848 which inflicted hard times for the French population and the rise to power of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Barbizon school is closely associated with the genre of realism and realist oil paintings generally. In France, Gustave Courbet was the original artist associated with the Realism movement, so producing the first realism oil painting. In the early part of the 20th Century, American Realist painters George Bellows and William Glackens (who were also aligned with the Ashcan School) were working in New York.
While on our website, browse some of the best paintings by Realist Movement artists on offer.
Related Links: