WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Richard Estes

Richard Estes

Richard Estes

American, 1932

WA-00027006

PaintingRealismHyperrealism

Representation

None documented

6

Institutional Exhibitions

22

Works in Collection

36

Assets Indexed

6

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ704965 ULAN500007462

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Master Prints from the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1989

No image

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Prints and Illustrated Books

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1984

No image

Printed Art: A View of Two Decades

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1980

No image

New York/New York

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1978

No image

Prints: Acquisitions, 1973�1976

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1976–1977

No image

Untitled I

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

Field Verification (5 fields)

4 cross-verified · 1 single-source

Birth yearArtsy + Duplicate Merge· 85%✓
BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
NationalityArtsy· 85%✓
Primary mediumDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
LocationGallery Generic· 72%

Source Registry (3)

Christies-Artsyhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/richard-estes
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Sothebyshttps://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/richard-estes
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/1764
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Richard Estes is an American painter born in 1932 known for hyperrealistic depictions of urban landscapes and storefronts rendered in oil and acrylic. Working primarily from photographs, he constructs meticulously detailed scenes of everyday American commerce and street life, where reflections in glass and metal surfaces become integral to the composition. His work emerged during the 1960s as a distinctive strain of photorealism, distinguished by its cool palette and almost archaeological precision in rendering architectural surfaces and commodity display.

Source: Christies Artsy · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Realism

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (22)

Michigan Avenue with View of the Art Institute

Michigan Avenue with View of the Art Institute

1984 · Oil on canvas

91.4 × 121.9 cm (36 × 48 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

1982 · Color screenprint

Sheet (sight): 20 × 17 7/8 in. (50.8 × 45.4 cm) Image (sight): 19 1/8 × 17 3/8 in. (48.6 × 44.1 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Subway, from "Urban Landscapes III"

1981 · Screenprint

image: 14 x 20 in. (35.6 x 50.8 cm) sheet: 19 11/16 x 27 9/16 in. (50 x 70 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Manhattan, from "Urban Landscapes III"

1981 · Screenprint

image: 14 x 20 in. (35.6 x 50.8 cm) sheet: 19 11/16 x 27 3/8 in. (50 x 69.5 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Screenprint

composition: 17 15/16 x 14 1/16" (45.6 x 35.7 cm); sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Screenprint

composition: 20 1/16 x 14 5/8" (51 x 37.2 cm); sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Screenprint

composition: 19 3/4 x 13" (50.2 x 33 cm); sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Screenprint

composition: 18 13/16 x 12 7/8" (47.8 x 32.7 cm); sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Screenprint

composition: 19 15/16 x 13 5/16" (50.6 x 33.8 cm); sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Screenprint

composition: 19 7/8 x 13 1/8" (50.5 x 33.3 cm); sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Urban Landscapes No. 2

Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Portfolio of eight screenprints

Sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Screenprint

composition: 19 7/8 x 13 3/8" (50.5 x 34 cm); sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

Untitled from the portfolio Urban Landscapes No. 2

1979 · Screenprint

composition: 20 1/16 x 13" (51 x 33 cm); sheet: 27 1/2 x 19 5/8" (69.8 x 49.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Murano Glass

1976 · Oil on canvas

61 × 91.4 cm (24 × 36 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Double Self-Portrait

Double Self-Portrait

1976 · Oil on canvas

24 x 36" (60.8 x 91.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Café Express

1975 · Oil on canvas

61 × 91.4 cm (24 × 36 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

1974 · Screenprint

composition 33 5/16 x 46 7/8" (84.7 x 119 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Oriental Cuisine

1972 · screenprint

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Seagram Building, from Urban Landscapes

The Seagram Building, from Urban Landscapes

1972 · Color silkscreen on paper

Image: 35.2 × 53.8 cm (13 7/8 × 21 3/16 in.); Sheet: 50 × 70 cm (19 11/16 × 27 9/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Drugs

1970 · Oil on canvas

152.4 × 112.7 cm (60 × 44 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

The Candy Store

1969 · Oil and acrylic on linen

Overall: 48 × 68 7/8 in. (121.9 × 174.9 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

New York Restaurant

New York Restaurant

1952 · Graphite on ivory wove paper

11.9 × 16.3 cm (4 11/16 × 6 7/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 22 artworks →

Artwork sources (5)

22 published of 33 catalogued · 26 with image

MoMA
11 publishedof 22 catalogued20 img
Art Institute Chicago
6 published6 img
Whitney
2 published
The Met
2 published
Cleveland Museum of Art
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 1)

1 entries · 1 sources

Oriental Cuisine
1972 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Café Express (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Café Express (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

13

Movements2

Realism Hyperrealism

Collections11

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Art Institute of Chicago The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Whitney Museum of American Art Museum of Modern Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Freeman's|Hindman

Market

Auction History

Range: $950 – $1,200

Work	Auction House	Date	Estimate	Hammer Price
Untitled	Freeman's\|Hindman	Apr 2026	$1,500 – $2,000	$950
Untitled	Freeman's\|Hindman	Apr 2026	$1,500 – $2,000	$1,200
Untitled	Phillips	Sep 2025	£1,000 – £1,500	Unsold