Realism's Heirs

Realism's insistence on painting contemporary life opened the door for every movement that followed. Impressionism took Realism's subjects (cafés, streets, parks) and applied new techniques. Social Realism in 1930s America — Dorothea Lange's photographs of Depression-era migrants — continued the tradition of using art to document injustice.

Realism's commitment to depicting the world as it actually appears — without idealization, mythology, or religious allegory — established the foundation for modern art's relationship with truth. Photography, documentary film, and social realism all descend from this movement.