Representational arts are artworks that depict real situations. The sources of inspiration for a representational work are generally real objects, people, or scenes. For instance, the painting of a cat is considered to be representational art because it describes a real-world subject.

Representational art refers to art which represents something, whether that be a tree in a landscape, apple in a still life, or figure in a portrait. Or in other words, it is art which is clearly identifiable as something which already exists in life. Representational artwork aims to represent actual objects or subjects from reality.

An appropriate Representational art definition would be artworks, in particular paintings and sculptures, that have been created by accurately copying real object sources. In doing so, the artworks that are produced represent something with strong visual references to reality, as they represent something very specific.