Realist Painters

Painter Thomas Kinkade is remembered for his realistic and idyllic themes. He gained fame by selling printed copies of his art through the Thomas Kinkade Company. He called himself the "Painter of Light” and copyrighted the phrase, too. The movie Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage was based on his life.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau was a French academic painter who enjoyed significant popularity in the United States and France. Renowned for his realistic genre paintings, which focused on the beauty of the female human body, Bouguereau received top prices for his paintings and numerous official honors during his lifetime. 

Born amid poverty in Ukraine, Ilya Repin earned himself an art scholarship and later devoted his life to historical painting. A major figure of the realist movement in painting, he had also been the subject of controversies, such as the withdrawal of his painting of Ivan the Terrible murdering his own son.

French painter Camille Corot is remembered for his landscape paintings that paved the path for the Impressionist movement. Born into a milliner’s family, Corot was a poor student and shunned his family business to learn painting at 25. His works, however, were easy to replicate and led to many forgeries.

One of the finest 20th-century muralists who specialized in fresco, José Clemente Orozco was not just a painter but also a talented caricaturist. His murals adorned not just cities of Mexico, but also places such as New York and California. The National Prize winner often focused on socially relevant themes.

Peder Severin Krøyer was a Danish painter best remembered for painting beach scenes featuring local fishermen as well as recreation life on the beach. Some of his paintings are preserved at the Skagens Museum in Denmark.

Carl Bloch was a Danish artist. His parents wanted him to become a naval officer, but he went against their wishes to pursue painting. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) under Wilhelm Marstrand and went on to become a well-known painter. He made 23 paintings for the King's Chapel at Frederiksborg Palace. 

Clara Peeters was a Flemish painter from Antwerp known for her still-life works. Active in both the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic, she is the most famous female Flemish artist of her era. She was one of the few women artists working professionally in 17th-century Europe. She is believed to have been a wealthy and successful artist.  

Hans Gude was a Norwegian romanticist painter best remembered for his landscape paintings. Counted among Norway's leading landscape painters along with Johan Christian Dahl, Gude is also considered the backbone of Norwegian National Romanticism. Over the course of his illustrious career, Hans Gude won several honors and medals.

Vasily Perov was a Russian painter who played an important role in the Realist movement in Russia. He is credited with co-founding one of the most popular groups of Russian realist artists called Peredvizhniki. Over the course of his career, Vasily Perov received several prestigious awards and honors like the grand gold medal from the Russian Academy of Arts.

Antonio López García was initially expected to join his family farm but was later introduced to art by his painter uncle. One of the greatest Spanish realist painters and sculptors, he is sometimes referred to as a hyper-realist artist. He excels in a variety of media, including pencil and oil.

Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto is a Spanish hyperrealist painter, who developed a passion for oil painting and an interest in military activities and horses early in his life. He, continued to paint while serving as a textile designer and later while undergoing national service in the Spanish Army. He now specializes in historical military paintings, which portray various epochs of the Spanish Armed Forces.

Peder Mørk Mønsted was a Danish realist painter best remembered for his portrayal of landscapes in a realistic style. Some of his favorite motifs were forests, still water, and snowy winter landscapes. A habitual traveler, Peder Mørk Mønsted presented his paintings at several international exhibitions. Today, many of his works are being treasured by private collectors around the world.

Christian Krohg was a Norwegian painter, author, illustrator, and journalist. From 1909 to 1925, he served at the Norwegian Academy of Arts as its first professor, apart from serving as the academy's director. Inspired by realism, Christian Krohg produced several portraits of people including that of his wife Oda Krohg. He received several international and national awards during his career.

Almeida Junior was a Brazilian designer and artist best remembered for introducing the Realistic tradition of Jean-François Millet and Gustave Courbet to Brazil. Regarded as an important and influential artist in Brazil, Almeida Junior was honored with the Gold Medal by the Imperial Academy in 1898. His birthday is celebrated as the Day of Fine Artists in Brazil.

Born in Japan, Yasuo Kuniyoshi moved to the U.S. to avoid military school and began studying painting in Los Angeles and New York instead. His works such as I’m Tired depict women. He was the first living artist to earn a retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.