These Most Realistic Paintings In The World Will Make Your Jaw Drop

Painting is the art of capturing reality on a canvas through sheer talent, observation, and imagination. But some artists are real masters at what they do, and vastly surpass the expectations one might have from this form of art. One such master of the canvas and color is the hyper-realist artist Leng Jun from China. His art style is so precise and accurate that one might swear that those are photographs. But, far from it, those are oil paintings on a canvas, and the attention to detail and precision of these masterpieces left us in awe.

Like many other artists, Leng became passionate about painting at a young age. Growing up in China, back in the 60s, things were tough. The country was going through a hard period of economic and social reform, and things were scarce. The oil paints the little boy needed to paint were not easily available. He first managed to lay hands on oil paint in middle school thanks to a friend of his and his path of artistic formation began.

Looking back, Leng admitted that his development as an artist was made possible by the period of change his country went through. The “reform and opening up [of China] really saved the soul of our generation.” This new openness to information from outside vastly contributed to the artist’s perspective and evolution: “At the time, information coming from the West greatly contributed to the enlightenment of our people. It also laid a very solid foundation for my later creations.”

By the 90’s Leng had already established himself as a consecrated hyperrealist artist, depicting scenes of social issues and other critical themes in his works. In 2004 he painted his own version of the Portrait of Mona Lisa.

After that, he continued to paint a series of extreme-realism portraits of women, so true-to-life and accurate that the paintings gained him international fame and acknowledgment. Here are some of his amazing works!

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