Realism

Realism is a visual language that strives to render the surrounding reality truthfully and without bias, as it actually is, free of idealisation, mythological ornament or romantic exaltation. Its core idea is to recognise ordinary people, labour, everyday life and social contradiction as worthy subjects of art. Formally, Realism relies on precise drawing, exact anatomy, convincing perspective and the tonal modelling of volume. The palette is usually restrained and close to nature, attentive to real illumination and the materiality of textures. Composition avoids artificial theatricality, favouring natural, observed scenes. Its motifs are peasants, workers, urban types, portraits of contemporaries, genre scenes and the landscape of one's native land. Technically, its artists prize careful execution and the authenticity of detail. As a conscious programme, Realism took shape in mid-nineteenth-century France: Gustave Courbet challenged academicism with canvases of stone-breakers and a rural funeral, while Jean-François Millet celebrated peasant toil. In Ukraine, Realism produced a constellation of masters born on Ukrainian soil. The Ukrainian artist Illia Repin, a native of Chuhuiv in Sloboda Ukraine, created the monumental "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks" and sharp social canvases. Mykola Pymonenko lovingly recreated Ukrainian village life, rituals and landscapes. Realism laid the foundation for a critical view of society. Today it is valued for its craftsmanship, humanity and capacity to tell the truth about life.