Color realism (art style)

It employs a flattening of objects into areas of color, where the modulations occur more as a result of an object interacting with the color and light of its environment than the sculptural modeling of form or presentation of textural detail.

[citation needed] Earliest proponents of this style include the Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer and Hendrick Terbrugghen.

[citation needed] Recent artists working with this style include the Boston School of painters, such as Edmund Tarbell and William McGregor Paxton.

These artists combined vibrant Impressionist pastel colors with a more traditional palette, to create color-realist works that have a full range of dark to light values.

This article related to art techniques is a stub.

Detail of Woman with a Water Pitcher , by Johannes Vermeer, showing yellow bodice becoming a mixture of purple and orange-yellow in shadow between waist and arms from reflected light.
The Lute Player by Hendrick Terbrugghen, detail of hand and sleeve showing skin color and white shirt broken into planes of color from direct light and reflected light of room.
Detail of Woman with a Water Pitcher , by Johannes Vermeer , showing arm broken into two large areas of mixed color.