Part I · Art movements · Chapter 7 of 31

Realism

c. 1840–1880. Realists insisted on painting the real, contemporary world — workers, peasants, funerals, ordinary people — rather than gods, heroes and idealised beauty.

The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet — **The Gleaners**, Jean-François Millet (1857). Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

A Burial at Ornans by Gustave Courbet — **A Burial at Ornans**, Gustave Courbet (1849–1850). Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur — **The Horse Fair**, Rosa Bonheur (1852–1855). Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Context

After the revolutions of 1848, Gustave Courbet declared he would paint only what he could see. His huge canvases of everyday village life shocked the Paris Salon.

Jean-François Millet gave peasant labour a quiet monumental dignity; Rosa Bonheur painted animals with scientific accuracy; Honoré Daumier satirised modern city life.

Photography (from 1839) challenged painters to rethink what painting was for. Manet bridged Realism and Impressionism with flat, frank modern subjects.

Key artists

Artist	Life	Known for
Gustave Courbet	1819–1877	A Burial at Ornans; leader of Realism.
Jean-François Millet	1814–1875	The Gleaners; peasant life.
Rosa Bonheur	1822–1899	The Horse Fair; animal painting.
Édouard Manet	1832–1883	Olympia; modern subjects, flat light.
James McNeill Whistler	1834–1903	Tonal 'arrangements' in grey and black.
Thomas Eakins	1844–1916	Scientific realism and anatomy: The Gross Clinic.
Gustave Caillebotte	1848–1894	The Floor Scrapers; urban labour.

Key works

Tap any image to zoom; works marked ◎ have notes on key details.

Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 by James McNeill Whistler — **Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1**, James McNeill Whistler (1871). Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins — **The Gross Clinic**, Thomas Eakins (1875). Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Floor Scrapers by Gustave Caillebotte — **The Floor Scrapers**, Gustave Caillebotte (1875). Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Olympia by Édouard Manet — **Olympia**, Édouard Manet (1863). Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

The Lady of Shalott by Elizabeth Siddal — **The Lady of Shalott**, Elizabeth Siddal (1853). Pen, ink and sepia on paper. Private collection. Source: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Techniques

Observation from life; no idealising.
Earthy, sober palettes with strong value structure.
Palette knife and thick paint (Courbet).
Large scale for ordinary subjects — a statement in itself.
Study of anatomy from dissection and photography (Eakins).

How to paint in this style

Choose an everyday subject you can observe directly: people at work, your street, your kitchen.
Draw from life; resist making people prettier than they are.
Use a limited earth palette — ochre, umber, sienna, black and white — plus one or two stronger colours.
Organise the picture into big, simple light and dark shapes.
Paint solidly and opaquely, using a palette knife for walls, rock or earth.

Typical palette

Lead (flake) white, yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt sienna, raw umber, vermilion, ultramarine, viridian and ivory black.