The most realistic paintings in the world. Photorealism

My job is to create stories through images. My camera and Photoshop are my biggest allies

I like the hard surface of the panels and use several thin layers of paint to create my hyper-realistic paintings

It would seem that these are first-class photographs, but in fact they are hyper-realistic paintings, which capture reality with amazing clarity.

Bright Side I have already talked about masterpieces of hyperrealism that amaze with their plausibility. But the creativity of artists does not stand still and they are constantly improving the quality of their work. In pursuit of technique and detail, they achieved unprecedented similarity. However, considerable perseverance and talent of the authors make these portraits something more than just a copy of a photograph. They contain life, the artist’s vision, emotions and the illusion of the world in which we live.

Linnea Strid

Linnea Strid was born in 1983 in a small Swedish village. At the age of 16, her family moved to Spain, and in 2004 they returned to Sweden, where she studied at art school for 4 years. Currently, the artist works in the genre of hyperrealism and participates in exhibitions around the world.

Sevostyanova Galina

Galina Sevostyanova is a self-taught artist from the Russian city of Kemerovo. I became seriously interested in drawing in 2010 and since then I have achieved incredible success in the technique and art of hyperrealism.

Juan Carlos Manyares

Juan Carlos Magnaares was born in 1970 in Guadalajara, Mexico. A self-taught artist, he presented his first exhibition at the age of 24 at the La Escalera gallery. Over time, his name and beautiful paintings became well known in the USA and abroad.

Callie Haun

German artist Callie Haun is known throughout the world primarily as the author of shocking and provocative works. Beginning his career in sign design, Culley has evolved into one of the most respected hyperrealist artists.

Patrick Kramer

Patrick Kramer was born in Kaysville, Utah, USA. The artist is not limited to any one topic and paints everything: from classical still lifes and portraits to picturesque landscapes and city scenes.

William Lazos

Canadian artist William Lazos has been working on creating hyper-realistic paintings for many years. The main feature of his works is the stunning play of light and shadow.

Damien Loeb

Some critics criticize the paintings of hyperrealists for their lack of originality, but the works of artist Damien Loeb are an exception to a number of rules. With the help of many details, he emphasizes the natural beauty of the female body, with all its flaws and perfection.

Harriet White

Harriet White was born in Taunton, UK. She graduated from a local art school, where she improved her hyperrealism skills. Today her work is exhibited primarily in commercial galleries.

Vincent Fatauzo

Renowned Australian artist Vincent Fatauzo's work has been exhibited around the world. His painting Heath received the People's Choice Award in the prestigious Archibald Prize 2008 painting competition. The portrait of Heath Ledger was painted a few weeks before the actor's death.

Philippe Munoz

Self-taught artist Philippe Munoz lives in Bristol, UK. The author's paintings are dedicated to glamor and its influence on modern society. As Philip himself admits, the purpose of his work is to reflect the bustling city life, so in the portraits you can most often find partygoers and other entertainment lovers.

Natalie Vogel

Most of Nathalie Vogel's paintings depict mysterious women who bewitch the viewer with their beauty and tragedy. The ability to subtly recognize the language of the human body is a distinctive feature of all her work.

Robin Eley

Robin Eley was born in Britain, raised in Australia, and educated in America. Each of his paintings takes about 5 weeks of work, 90 hours a week. The main theme is people wrapped in cellophane.

Ivan Franko Fraga

Spanish artist Ivan Franco Fraga received his art education at the University of Vigo, Spain. His works were exhibited in many galleries in Spain and took part in various competitions.

Kang Kang Hoon

Korean artist Kang Kang Hoon uses a variety of subjects in his paintings, mixing them with stunning portraits of people.

Denis Peterson

Denis Peterson is considered one of the founders of the hyperrealism movement in the United States. His works first appeared in the Brooklyn Museum, Tate Modern and other famous places. The artist prefers to paint with gouache and acrylic paints.

Sharyl Luxenburg

Canadian artist Sharyl Luxenburg has been improving the technique in her work for 35 years. As the main material, she uses a mixture of acrylic and watercolor paints, thanks to which she achieves a “grainy” effect. In her works she strives to display the smallest details of the human face and body.

Heng Jin Park

Korean artist Hyung Jin Park graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Seoul, after which he exhibited some of his works in galleries in Beijing. Currently lives in New York.

Ruth Tyson

British artist Ruth Tyson, like many of her colleagues, does not have an art education, but has a good manner of executing her works. She draws with graphite and watercolor pencils, but sometimes also paints.

Katarina Zimnicka

Almost nothing is known about the 22-year-old Polish artist Katarina Zimnicka, but the realism of her works is amazing.

Suzana Stojanovic

Serbian artist Suzana Stojanovic is one of the most experienced artists of hyperrealism. Passionate about painting from the age of 4, over time she became a famous artist, whose creativity is not limited to any one technique and material. Suzana is a participant in many international exhibitions, where her works were highly appreciated by art historians and experts.

Leslie Harrison

American artist Leslie Harrison has been creating superb realistic portraits of animals for more than 30 years of her professional career.

Rod Chase

Rod Chase is one of the best and famous hyperrealist artists. A true fan of his work, he was highly praised by many of his “colleagues.” He spends hundreds of hours and incredible efforts on each of his paintings. His canvases depict famous landmarks of the USA and Great Britain.

Rod Penner

American artist Rod Penner lives in Texas and loves to depict small towns in this state. In his paintings he tries to capture the unhurried life and reigning tranquility of the American outback.

Pedro Campos

Madrid artist Pedro Campos paints on canvas with oil paints. He began his career when he was still just a boy, in creative workshops that designed nightclubs. Having reached the age of 30, Pedro began to think seriously about becoming an independent artist. And today, at 44 years old, he is already a recognized master, whose works are exhibited in the famous London art gallery Plus One.

Cheryl Kelly

American artist Cheryl Kelly paints exclusively old cars. For Kelly, her love of cars is primarily a deep instinctive attraction to their shape, rather than a passion for the roar of the engine. The artist herself describes her passion this way: “The first thing that captivates me is beauty. I can literally get lost in the reflections of beautiful cars when they stop at traffic lights.”

Jason de Graaf

Canadian hyperrealist artist Jason de Graaf was born in 1971 in Montreal. The author of stunning still lifes says about his work: “My main desire is to create the illusion of depth and presence, which is very difficult to achieve with photography.”

Steve Mills

Hyperrealist artist Steve Mills is originally from Boston. He sold his first work at age 11. According to Mills, he always found it fascinating to closely examine and study those things that people do not pay attention to in ordinary life. This is what he focuses on in his works, forcing the viewer to pay attention to the texture and play of light in a glass jar.

20 artists who are ready to compete with the camera

Bright Side I have previously talked about some talented authors whose work is striking in its plausibility. It would seem that these are first-class photographs, but in fact they are hyper-realistic paintings, which capture reality with amazing clarity.

Creating such photorealistic drawings requires considerable time, because literally every little detail must be drawn very accurately. Artists spend dozens or even hundreds of hours on each painting before presenting their work to critics. The considerable perseverance and talent of the authors make these portraits something more than just a copy of a photograph. They contain life, the artist’s vision, emotions and the illusion of the world in which we live.

Diego Fazio

The appearance of each new painting by the artist Diego Facio on the Internet is accompanied by a wave of comments in the spirit of “I don’t believe that this is a drawing”, “unconvincing” and everything in the same spirit. The 22-year-old pencil drawing master had to share the secrets of his creativity. Self-taught hyperrealist Diego Fazio began with sketches for tattoos. Inspired by the work of Japanese artists of the Edo period, the great Katsushika Hokusai in particular, Diego began to hone his skills, developing his own drawing technique. It works like an inkjet printer, starting to draw from the edge of the sheet. Uses simple pencils and charcoal. It takes the artist 200 hours of work to create one portrait.

Yigal Ozeri

Yigal Ozeri is a contemporary artist from New York. Yigal incredibly accurately conveys the play of light and shadow, glare and sunlight, and thereby masterfully creates the illusion of photography. The process of creating these amazing hyper-realistic paintings consists of several stages. First, the artist takes photographs of the models in their natural surroundings. Next, in his creative workshop, he processes and prints photographs, and only then paints. Yigal creates many paintings in entire series, which further misleads people about the authenticity of the works, which, in general, is understandable - a rare master is able to so accurately create the illusion of the real world.

Gottfried Helnwein

Gottfried Helnwein is an Austrian and Irish artist. In his works he uses mainly watercolors. Helnwein is a conceptual artist. He worked as a painter, draftsman, photographer, sculptor and artist, using all aspects of his talent.

Kamalki Laureano

Mexican hyperrealist Kamalky Laureano specializes in portraiture. Like all works of hyperrealists, Kamalka’s paintings look photographically natural and natural. Kamalki uses the technique of painting with acrylic paints on canvas. For him, work is not just an imitation of photography, but an imitation of life, which he embodies on canvas.

Matthew Doust

Artist Mattew Dust was born in 1984 in Santa Monica, California (USA). Despite his still young age, he is already quite famous. Exhibitions of his realistic paintings are held throughout the world and decorate many famous galleries.

Ricardo Garduno

Artist Ricardo Garduno uses watercolors and pastels to realize his ideas. This process is quite labor-intensive, but the result is truly impressive.

Ruben Belloso

The world-famous artist Ruben Belloso draws people as they are, with all their shortcomings and advantages, without missing a single stroke, thoroughly drawing out every wrinkle, every fold, every point on the face and every hair on the head. The portraits seem to be alive. They are able to communicate with the viewer and follow your every glance and casually turn their gaze to your emotions.

Simon Hennessy

British artist Simon Hennessey paints portraits in the style of hyperrealism, creating paintings that are almost indistinguishable from photographs. He mainly works with acrylic paints. His works are often exhibited in various art galleries. “My paintings are perceived as a reflection of reality, but in fact this is not the case, they go beyond the boundaries of art into their own, abstract reality. Using the camera as a source of a real picture, I can create false illusions that are regarded as our own reality,” the artist says about his work.

Another Turkish artist who accurately reproduces people's faces in portraits. Currently teaching fundamentals of illustration at the graphic design department.

Olga Larionova

“Do you still believe that a photograph is better than a portrait? You are very mistaken! — the author of the portraits, Olga Larionova, writes on her page. Being an interior designer and an architect by training, Olga loved to draw all her life. Several years ago, she became interested in hyperrealism - a detailed rendering of the depicted object, which makes the drawings look like a photograph.

Only a simple pencil of medium hardness and paper - nothing else that the author would use in his work. And no shading, except for small “paintings” with a finger and slate chips to create textures, give the paintings volume, and portraits - realism. Of course, most of the time is spent on drawing out the details and little things, because without them the picture will simply be unfinished, and the image will be incomplete.

Dirk Dzimirski

The most talented German artist Dirk Dzimirsky uses charcoal, pencil and pastel in his works. Like most geniuses in artistic creativity, the work of this author deserves the highest praise.

Paul Cadden

It's hard to believe, but Scottish artist Paul Cadden prefers the work of Vera Mukhina. Moreover, the influence of the brilliant Soviet sculptor begins to be felt if you look at his paintings very abstractly. There is nothing incomprehensible about them: the colors of the main and only theme are absolutely the same: gray and dark gray. There is nothing surprising here - the author’s only tool is a lead pencil. It is quite enough to convey the effect of drops of water frozen on the face for exactly a moment. There is no doubt about the genius of the author; these works will be in demand in the museum of modern art in the near future.

Brian Drury

American artist Bryan Drury graduated from the New York Academy of Art in 2007 and has since been working in the genre of realism. Winner of many prestigious awards in the USA and Europe.

Eloy Morales

Eloy Morales Romiro is a Spanish artist who has a unique talent for displaying detailed photographs on canvas. The author says about his work: “I am interested in working with reality, reflecting it in my paintings, I try to adhere to the line where reality coexists in a natural form with my inner world. It is important for me to convey my vision of things through paintings. I believe in the immense power of imagination and its endless possibilities."

Raffaella Spence

Impressed by the views of the Umbrian countryside, Raphaella Spence turned to creating urban landscapes. In 2000, her first solo exhibition took place in Italy, which received recognition from art historians and the recognition of many critics in the art press. The artist's paintings are in many private, public and corporate collections in the United States of America, Canada, England, Russia, Italy, Austria and Germany.

Samuel Silva

29-year-old Portuguese lawyer Samuel Silva managed to shock and amuse countless Internet users around the world by creating and uploading a stunning picture of a red-haired girl, which many mistook for a photograph.
The self-taught artist explains that he uses only eight colors when working on his drawings. “I have eight colored ballpoint pens, and for this drawing I used six of them plus black. These are ordinary ballpoint pens." At the same time, according to Silva, he never mixes colors: he simply applies several layers of ink with strokes, thus creating the illusion of mixing and the illusion of using colors that he actually does not have.

In the 70s of the 20th century, a new movement arose in America in the fields of sculpture and painting - hyperrealism.

Its appearance became a real event in the art of the whole world. This definition is used for several designations: branches in painting, cinematography, sculpture, popular in the 1990-2000s; photos of European realists of the 70s.

A synonym for "hyperrealism" is photorealism.

In 1973, a major catalog and Brussels art exhibition were named hyperrealism. Most of the photorealists from the United States presented their work there. In addition, it showed paintings by the following European artists: Delcol, Klafek, Gerhard Richter, Gnoli.

Three decades later, the concept of “hyperrealism” was used to name the style of new creators. They imitated photographs by using painting techniques on canvas.

Their main task was to depict modern life: storefronts, restaurants, traffic lights, numerous subway stations, people and buildings. Artists paid special attention to shiny and reflective surfaces, such as glass, car polish, plastic, etc. The play of reflection on these surfaces created a feeling of mutual penetration of space.

Hyperrealistic works are easily confused with photographs. However, they are drawn by the hand of their talented author.

Hyperrealist artists

Hyperrealism has always been an art movement that generates a lot of controversy. Some admire the painter’s skill, others are perplexed as to why paint what is captured by a camera.

The goal of hyperrealists is to depict the world not only authentically, but also super similar, super real.

They used mechanical methods, namely copying photographs and adjusting them to the dimensions of large canvases (slide projection, etc.). The paints were sprayed using an airbrush, preserving all the characteristics of a photographic image, excluding the individual manners of the masters. In addition, guests at exhibitions of this trend were greeted by human figures in the halls. They were made life-size using modern polymer means. They were wearing ready-made outfits. And they were painted so that the figures looked like spectators. This performance caused confusion and shock among people.

The task of photorealism is to sharpen our perception of everyday life, to depict a symbolized modern environment, to reflect our era in the form of “tech art”, which has become widespread in the current period of technological progress.

Photorealists captured and exposed the essence of modern life, but hid their emotions. In fact, in its works this movement almost challenged all art, finding itself on its border and striving to compete directly with life.

Hyperrealists achieved unprecedented realism by chasing technology and details.

Author: Samuel Silva Author: Pedro Campos

The portraits made by these artists are something more than ordinary copies of photographs. The great talent and perseverance of the authors makes them simply incredible.

They contain the life that the artist sees, our emotions and the illusion of the world in which we live.

For fine art, the direction of hyperrealism can no longer be called a novelty. And yet, despite the great popularity of this movement, the realism of new works of artists each time and with renewed vigor amazes with the skill and high level with which they are made.

What is hyperrealism?

Paintings in the style of hyperrealism surprise with their plausibility. Each painting is the result of detailed work on every stroke. In many .

1. Luciano Ventrone

“A painting is not just an object that is painted on it. A real painting is the color and light of the subject.”.

In this picture we see thousands of shades of blue. It seems that the water is illuminated, the water sparkles in the sun. The sun is behind us, shining in the back, and in front of us is a dark sky covered in clouds. It all feels very realistic.

Even while studying at art school, the artist showed his future talent as a hyperrealist. Teachers noticed Ventrone's love for detail, and some of his drawings were even included in anatomy textbooks.

The artist has worked on every detail of the pomegranate. On every grain of fruit there is a glare from the light, exactly as it is in life.

Recently the artist has been working with still life. He places fruits under bright lamps, so that light and shadows fall beautifully on objects, and also photographs them and, while drawing, always compares the drawing with the photo.

Pay attention to the vase: at first glance it blends into the background. But if you look closely, you can see how carefully Luciano worked on it.

Ventrone paints with poisonous oil paints. Poison paint is an ancient artistic tradition. If such paint gets on the skin, it can leave a burn. But these colors are the brightest and highest quality.

The black background serves as a contrast for the red color - and the colors play especially brightly.

2. Sergei Geta

The painting is called “Sunny Day”. All hyperrealists talk about the importance of lighting in their paintings. Here the “character” of the picture turns out to be not greenery, but the sun, light.

At first I copied photographs with pencils - a lead pencil created the effect of a photo on paper. And then I started experimenting with different techniques.

Now Sergei is a world-famous artist, his paintings are exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery, museums in Wroclaw in Poland, Nuremberg in Germany, art galleries in Japan and the USA.

The direction in which Goeta works is called “Ecological Realism”. The artist loves to paint landscapes - nature, greenery, water.

Leaves are falling. And every vein plays in the sun.

3. Patrick Kramer

Many people have a question - why draw exactly the same as the photo looks. Patrick explains it this way: if a viewer in a gallery sees a photograph, even a very beautiful one, he looks at it for a few seconds and moves on. But when instead of a photograph there is a painting, and the viewer understands this - he is delighted, he comes closer, tries to look at the painting more carefully, to see where the paint is on the canvas...

The painting is called “Three Glasses”. Painted in oil. Pay attention to the background - it is blurry, just like the background in a photo turns out when shooting close-up objects. Thanks to such details, a hyperrealistic picture is obtained.

4. Harriet White

Here, as in any photograph, there is a “focus”. We see eyelashes clearly, but everything behind them is blurry.

Harriet's paintings are popular among private collectors.

The artist skillfully approaches the color scheme of her paintings – she works in contrast. Beige, skin color, acts as a background. And then black and bright makeup colors are added.

Thanks to the “blurred” colors, the effect of movement occurs. It seems that the picture captured a random moment; the models did not pose, but felt at ease.

5. Suzanna Stojanovic

In this picture it is especially noticeable that the artist was interested in sculpture. The horse figures are “sculptural”. Here we see a frozen moment.

In addition, the artist was engaged in literary creativity and music - she participated in many music competitions. She wrote her first musical composition when she was 15 years old. But, despite such a breadth of interests, Suzanne’s vocation remains painting. Many of her paintings are in private and public collections in the USA, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Macedonia.

The blurred background makes you feel the speed at which the horse is rushing:

The artist draws horses and carefully studies their anatomy. The artist’s most popular series of paintings is called “The Magic World of Horses.” An interesting solution is to stylize the painting as an old photo:

Now the artist is working on a new series of paintings and writing short stories. The artist’s dream is to try herself in making animated films.

6. Andrew Talbot

Thanks to bright colors, the effect of presence is created - it seems that objects are lying right in front of us. Notice how believably the artist conveyed the reflection on the table from each candy. It’s little things like these that make up a hyper-realistic picture. Every detail is important here.

This year Andrew was included in the list of the 15 best hyperrealists in the world.

7. Rafaella Spence

Such works evoke sincere admiration. The artist paid attention to every high-rise building, every window and even the window frame. You have to work on such paintings for a very long time, but the result is worth it.

And this sky over the city will not leave anyone indifferent:

8. Yanni Floros

Here the photo effect occurs due to the folds in the clothing. The artist carefully drew out every fold.

Yanni also works in painting, sculpture and graphics. In his hyperrealistic works, the artist depicts people doing different things and wants to show how they influence our lives and feelings about the world.

Hyperrealism is becoming increasingly popular. Therefore, the next time you come to the gallery and see a photograph, do not ignore its description. It is quite possible that the “photo” will turn out to be a painting - and you will become acquainted with hyperrealism in real life.

Look for art in everyday life! If you are interested in the lives of famous artists, we recommend taking a look

Surely everyone has at least once seen pictures in their news feed that are very similar to photographs. At first glance, it is quite difficult to understand whether such work was done using modern digital technology or created with a brush and paints. As a rule, these are drawings by artists who have chosen the style of hyperrealism. The paintings look very much like photographs, but at the same time they often convey something more.

What is hyperrealism

This style appeared relatively recently and has already won many fans and faced the hatred of those who do not understand the point of copying reality. Few artistic styles in painting are as controversial as hyperrealism.

The world saw the first such works in the 70s of the 20th century. The amazingly accurate copying of reality amazed minds so much that the style quickly became very popular. Nowadays, endless disputes between fans and opponents attract even more attention to him.

The subject of a clash of opinions, as a rule, becomes one question: why draw something that can be photographed. The essence of hyperrealism is that it draws the viewer’s close attention to the most ordinary things. This happens due to multiple increases in scale, the abandonment of complex backgrounds and amazing image clarity. The artist, who has chosen the style of hyperrealism, does not impose his opinion on the viewer - all his works are simple and surprisingly realistic.

What do hyperrealists paint?

The object of creativity of an artist working in the style of hyperrealism can be almost any object that catches his eye. Fruits, plastic bags, glass, metal, water - anything can be embodied in the next picture. As a rule, hyperrealists show the viewer the selected object as if under a microscope, increasing its size several times and allowing the person to plunge into a completely different world.

Often the artist tries to draw the viewer's attention to a certain detail, making it more contrasting and smoothly dissolving everything else. At first glance, you may not even understand that attention is focused precisely on this part of the picture only because the artist wanted it that way. This is the subtle psychology of hyperrealists, which allows them to manipulate emotions. But not all artists use this technique - some prefer to create works that completely copy reality.

Hyperrealistic portraits

But among many works, fans of the style pay special attention to portraits. Drawing a lemon falling into a glass of water is difficult, but conveying a person’s emotions, mood and character is even more difficult. Many modern artists complicate their work by pouring paint, water or oil over the model to make the painting more original.

But in general, hyperrealists do not limit themselves in choosing a topic for painting. Like many other artistic styles in painting, this type of art can present almost anything to the viewer.

What do they draw with?

The materials hyperrealists work with can be completely different. Works done in oil or acrylic are very popular. The richness of the colors allows the artist to create contrasting, bright and truly attractive paintings.

But there are other materials that real talents use to create works in the style of hyperrealism. For example, portraits are most often used with pencil. It allows you to clearly draw wrinkles on the face, the smallest elements of hair, and so on. Hyperrealist artists create incredibly sunny and bright portraits.

Watercolor is more suitable for painting landscapes in the style of hyperrealism. The paintings turn out light and airy - translucent paint allows you to better convey space. Despite the fact that artists often paint forests, lakes and wild rivers, they rarely leave home to create. Almost all paintings are copied by hyperrealists from photographs, which they often take themselves.

Famous artists

Many have seen paintings by artists painting in this style, but few have heard their names. One of the most famous hyperrealists is Will Cotton. His “sweet” paintings cannot fail to attract attention. As a rule, they depict girls on clouds that resemble various desserts - cakes, cookies, etc.

It is impossible not to note the landscapes of Rafaella Spence, made in the style of hyperrealism. The paintings of this artist amaze with their liveliness, which makes them almost indistinguishable from photographs.

Having created many works in the style of abstract art, he is one of the most famous hyperrealists. The people and objects in his paintings look a little blurry, as if the light is passing directly through them. Thanks to this unusual effect, Richter's paintings can be easily recognized among many others.

It is worth paying tribute to the artists who paint in the style of hyperrealism. The paintings they created are examples of the highest skill.