Realism definition

(1830-1870) An art movement also referred to as the Realist school.  In the movement artists removed themselves from the dramatic Romanticism going on at the time, as well as the Neoclassicism that was full of formulas to follow.  Instead, the artists decided to make their paintings be full of common everyday scenes in the way they looked like in real life.  Often times the paintings included some type of message, whether it be a moral message of a social or political message.  The artists often used even ugly objects to get their points across.  Key artists of the movement include Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, J A MacNeil Whistler, John Singer Sargeant, Jean-Francois Millet, and Honore Daumier.

   
 

Painting by Honoré Daumier called "The Third-Class Carriage" in the 1860s. Scenes of everyday life that mirrored life were the subject of the Realist artists' paintings.