The best WORKS and ARTISTS of realistic painting

Realism is a pictorial movement that was born in France Mid-nineteenth century. A style whose main representative is Gustav Courbet, being he who coined the term when using it in his 1855 exhibition in Paris.
Together with Courbet, author of the work considered to be the key and authentic manifesto of the movement, we we find a group of artists who followed the same aesthetic principles of realism literary: show reality and engage with movements politicians and the lower classes.
In this lesson from unPROFESOR.com we show you the best works and artists of realist painting.
Index
- Realistic painting - Introduction
- Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), one of the most prominent realist painting artists
- Jean-François Millet (1814-1875)
- Honoré Daumier (1808-1879)
- Great Landscapers of Realism painting
Realistic painting - Introduction.
As we have already pointed out, Gustave Courbet is one of the most prominent figures of the realistic painting, adding to this list Millet, Daumier and landscapers such as Corot or members of the
Barbizon School, those of the Le Havre school or Jean-Frédéric Bazille.Outside of France we meet in England with Pre-Raphaelites and the painters of the Newlyn school. In the United States, Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer stand out.

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877), one of the most prominent realist painting artists.
Courbet led realism to show reality from a more democratic and free perspective, denouncing the failure of the French Revolution and the terrible situation of the lower classes in the face of industrialization.
Courbet, controversial and rebellious, he organized an exhibition called "The realism" in a pavilion near the International Exhibition of Paris in 1855, a place where he had rejected his works.
A really original painter and against all kinds of academicism. Due to the constant rejection of his works within the traditional circuits, Courbet launched his own exhibition.
Works by Gustave Courbet
The first Courbet works they are landscapers, to go on to do portraits. Among his main works are:
- Self-portrait with black dog (1842). This is the first self-portrait recognized by the author and accepted by the Paris Salon in 1844. The painter portrays himself with his dog in front of a luminous landscape.
- The desktop at Ornans (1848). This painting received numerous accolades, being awarded at the Paris Salon.
- Self portrait with pipe (1848). This is one of the best-known self-portraits of him, being considered one of his best works.
- Town ladies (1851)
- The painter in his studio (1855), work rejected by the jury of the Universal Exhibition in Paris. He withdrew it and opened his own pavilion and founded his Pavilion of Realism. It constitutes a whole manifesto of the movement.

Jean-François Millet (1814-1875)
Founder of the Barbizon School, Millet was another of the fathers of realismor. In his works, he showed his admiration for the peasants and his humility in the face of the deterioration of living conditions in industrialized cities.
Millet, coming from Normandy, did not see his work recognized by him in Paris, something that led him to distance himself from the official currents and move to Barbizon, where created a landscape school, standing out for his interest in nature and his more mystical style.
Among the main works of him: The Reapers' Meal (1853), The Gleaners (1857), The Angelus (1859) and Rest at Noon (1866).

Honoré Daumier (1808-1879)
Instead, Daumier offers us some works inspired by urban environments, representing the proletariat with dark tones and in sad and oppressive environments. Some works that are also characterized by their thick line and the distortion of the figures represented, being a forerunner of the cartoon genre.
Among his works of Realism The first-class compartment, the caricatures of him for magazines such as "La Caricature" and "Le Charivari ”, as well as the work“ Rue Transnonain ”, published on April 15, 1834 in the Association Magazine Mensuelle.

Great landscapers of Realism painting.
The landscaping It was one of the most outstanding expressions of the realistic movement, distinguishing two aspects, one with a social touch, showing the daily life of the peasants and workers; and another purely academic. Among the main artists stands out Camille Corot (1796-1875).
Corot is one of the artists of realistic painting and one of the great landscapers of the XIX, counting on a modern conception of composition and light. Among his major works are Ville d 'Avray (c. 1867), Souvenir of Mortefontaine (1864), Rome, view from the Farnese Gardens, Woman with a pearl, The old bridge of Nantes and The pond of Ville-d'Avray,
Other big names in the Barbizon School are found:
- Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867)
- Charles François Daubigny (1817-1878)
- Constant Troyon (1810-1865)
- Louis-Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) and Johand Bartold Jongkind (1819-1891), members of the Le Havre school.

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Bibliography
- Fried, M, (2003). Coubert's realism. Antonio Machado
- Staley, Allen; Newalll, Christopher (2004). Pre-Raphaelites. The vision of nature. Madrid: La Caixa Foundation
- Fernández, Tomás and Tamaro, Elena. "Biography of Jean Baptiste Camille Corot". In Biographies and Lives. The online biographical encyclopedia [Internet]. Barcelona, Spain, 2004.
- VVAA, (2011) Realism. The footprint of Courbet, National Museum of Art of Catalonia.