Realism Era (1850 - 1925)

The stone breakers (1849)

1849

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Gustave Courbet
Depicts two laborers breaking stones on a rural road, highlighting the harsh, grueling reality of manual labor.

After Dinner at Ornans (1849)

1849

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Gustave Courbet
Description: A scene of men relaxing after a meal in Courbet’s hometown, emphasizing the ordinary and mundane.

Plowing in the Nirvernais (1849)

1849

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Rosa Bonheur
Description: Depicts oxen plowing fields in the French countryside, celebrating agricultural labor and rural life.

A Burial at Ornans (1850)

1850

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Gustave Courbet
Description: A monumental painting of an ordinary funeral in Courbet’s hometown, it challenged traditional depictions of grandeur with its somber realism.

Young Ladies of the Village (1852)

1852

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Gustave Courbet
Description: Features three women offering alms to a young shepherdess, blending social commentary with personal symbolism.

The Horse Fair (1853)

1853

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Rosa Bonheur
Description: A dynamic portrayal of a horse market, showcasing Bonheur’s mastery of animal anatomy and movement.

The Song of the Lark (1884)

1854

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Jules Breton
Description: A young peasant woman stands in a field at dawn, captivated by the song of a lark.

The Meeting (1854)

1854

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Gustave Courbet
Description: Courbet paints himself meeting a patron in the countryside, emphasizing self-representation and artistic independence.

The Gleaners (1857)

1857

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Jean-François Millet
Description: Shows three peasant women gleaning leftover grains from a harvest.

The Angelus (1859)

1859

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Jean-François Millet
Description: A tranquil scene of two peasants pausing in prayer during their work in a field, evoking simplicity and spiritual devotion.

The Third-Class Carriage (1862)

1862

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Honoré Daumier
Description: Highlights the crowded, uncomfortable conditions of third-class railway travel, focusing on the humanity of working-class passengers.

Man with a Hoe (1863)

1863

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Jean-François Millet
Description: A weary farmer leans on his hoe, embodying the struggle and resilience of agricultural workers.

The Washerwomen (1863)

1863

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Honoré Daumier
Description: A depiction of a laundress carrying her work through the streets.

Portrait of Louis-Auguste Cézanne, Father of the Artist, Reading ‘L’Événement’ (1866)

1866

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Paul Cézanne
Description: An intimate depiction of Cézanne’s father reading a newspaper, showing his early Realist influence before his later impressionistic style.

Barge Haulers on the Volga (1873)

1873

Medium: Oil on canvas
Creator: Ilya Repin
Description: Depicts exhausted men towing a barge upstream, a powerful critique of the exploitation of labor.