Final answer:
Realist art is a 19th-century movement rooted in depicting everyday life with objective truthfulness, contrasting with the idealized or emotional art of the past. It emphasizes the portrayal of ordinary people and their experiences, playing a pivotal role in shifting the artistic focus towards realism and setting the stage for Impressionism.
Step-by-step explanation:
Realist art is a movement that began in France in the 1850s and is characterized by the depiction of everyday subjects and situations with an objective truthfulness. Artists such as Gustave Courbet, Honore Daumier, and Jean-Francois Millet depicted individuals of all social classes in their contemporary settings, often highlighting the more sordid and untidy elements of their subjects. Realism sought to move away from the classical idealism and romantic emotionalism of previous art movements, favoring instead a more direct, unvarnished representation of life as it was, including reflections of the changes brought about by the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions.
Unlike the academically idealized or dramatically emotional art that preceded it, Realism was grounded in the democratic and representative changes desired by the public post-French Revolution.
This movement is critical to understanding the transition to later art movements like Impressionism, as Realism rejected the artificial standards of salons and academies, painting life as it truly was for both the wealthy and poor. Artists focused on dynamic brushstrokes, visible texture, and naturalistic portrayals, valuing the everyday and the real over artificial grandiosity.