Realism in the Arts Realist depictions of gritty everyday life challenged the Romantic emphasis on nature and the emotions, as well as the Neoclassical focus on famous men and grand events. French painter Honoré Daumier’s The Third-Class Carriage, completed in 1864, is a famous example of Realism in the arts that portrays the effects of industrialization in the mid-nineteenth century. In muted colors, Daumier’s painting captures the grinding poverty and weariness of the poor but also lends a sense of dignity to their humble lives.

(Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA/Bridgeman Images)