The three mainstreams as described above in a simple fashion are in "official" art circles of course dealt with and defined in a much more complicated manner. Often artists themselves make their own confusing contributions to the debate. Mondriaan, for instance, declared flatly to be occupied with "true realism". Of a complete different nature, but still: realism. And I myself keep maintaining that pure realism in painting has never existed, doesn’t exist, and will never exist, because this is impossible, due to the nature of reality.

See also the conclusion of Personal Vision