How are these pictures related? Which is the most “realistic”?…Photography is convenient, but is it always the best way to depict reality? A photograph is actually a very limited way of sharing our experience of the real, as it represents only a single vantage point in space and a brief moment in time.
Now look at the photograph of a painting by Jacob van Ruysdael. Most people would say that it is not as realistic as a photograph of a similar scene. However, I’d argue that Ruysdael’s painting conveys more temporal and sensory information than any single photograph can. Through exaggeration, it provides a more vivid visual experience — a natural scene captured, not by a piece of hardware like a camera, but filtered over time by the subjective mind and skills of a talented painter. This experiential “effect” is even truer in portraiture.
To understand this, try to mimic, for example, the pose in ‘The Thinker’, one of Rodin’s most famous sculptures. You’ll be surprised how hard it is to achieve the actual pose. Rodin’s art is exaggerated to achieve higher realism.
