What are the foundations and movements of realism? 

Realism in the arts is generally an attempt to represent the subject matter truthfully, without artificiality or implausible, exotic or supernatural elements. In the visual arts, illusionistic realism is the accurate depiction of life forms, perspective and the details of light and color.

The 19th Century realist movement began in France in the 1850’s. The realist painters rejected romanticism, which dominated French literature and art. Realism is the precise, detailed and accurate representation in illustration of the visual appearance of scenes and objects. Realistic art was created in many different periods.

The movement of realism: movement in mid- to late 19th-century art, in which an attempt was made to create objective representations of the external world based on the impartial observation of contemporary life. realism was consciously democratic, including in its subject-matter and audience activities and social classes previously considered unworthy of representation in high art. realism was never a formal movement as such, but rather an attitude to life and art. its most flamboyant exponent was the extrovert gustave courbet whose disregard for convention defined his life style and his painting. courbet was concerned with the appearance of the real, external world, with concrete information and facts that could be verified empirically.