Skip to main content

An $81M painting inspired the design of this unusual phone

A render of the Realme 13 Pro in Monet Gold.
Realme

We’ve recently welcomed Realme back to the global phone market with the Realme GT 6, and it has wasted no time in getting us ready for its next release. It has teased the forthcoming Realme 13 Pro series and revealed it has worked with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on a Claude Monet-inspired color scheme for a pair of special-edition models.

The Realme 13 Pro phones use colors and a design inspired by two of the impressionist painter’s most recognizable works, Grainstack (Sunset) and Water Lilies. The Monet Gold phone influenced by Grainstack is the only one the company has shown off at this stage, and you can see the subtle gold tones and the reflections on the surface of the device, which evoke the sunset in the scene from one of  Monet’s famous and incredibly valuable paintings. How valuable? Auction house Christies sold Grainstack (Sunset) for $81,447,500 in 2016 to an anonymous buyer, while another in the series painted by Monet reached $110,747,000 in 2019 at Sotherby’s to become the most valuable piece of impressionist art in the world at the time.

Recommended Videos

It will be joined by a second special-edition phone in a color called Monet Purple, which is inspired by the Water Lilies painting. Both phones will have a frosted glass finish, which Realme says will be “crafted with a unique flash gold process, reproduced by millions of shimmering particles coming together to emulate Monet’s brushstrokes on the frosted high-gloss glass, capturing the fleeting moments in his paintings.”

Amber en CG Video 15s 1920x1080 super gold

Realme often excels at design, something we’ve noted with its other collaborations, beginning with those made with Japanese designer Fukasawa Naoto and spanning right up to its special editions made with well-known brands like Coca-Cola. It’ll be interesting to see how a collaboration with an art museum works, particularly when it’s referencing such well-known works.

What else do we know about the Realme 13 Pro series? It’s going to have two Sony Lytia camera sensors on the back, with one of them being the latest LYT-701, and some more AI technology inside the camera too. The Realme 13 Pro will be accompanied by a Realme 13 Pro Plus model, and it looks like all versions of the Realme 13 Pro series will be available in the Monet colors. The only release information on the new phones is they will be released in India in the near future.

Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7: the upgrade we’ve been waiting for?
Thre Flip 7 models next to each other

I never really thought that I'd want to go down the route of owning a flip phone, ever since I swore off my Nokia in the early 2000s (you know, the one with the weird felt covering and tiny notification window).

Fast forward two decades, and I'm considering rejoining the race, thanks to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7. Coming in at $1,100, it's not cheap, but it's definitely something different compared to the world of black rectangles, and it it feels like Samsung’s Flip family has finally come of age.

Read more
I used the Galaxy Z Fold 7, here’s why I’m completely smitten
The back of the Galaxy Z Fold 7

We’ve waited several years for Samsung to join the party, but it’s finally here: Samsung has followed rivals like Oppo, OnePlus, and Honor in building a thinner, lighter, and sleeker Galaxy Z Fold 7. It’s an impressive feat of engineering and a major upgrade over previous years.

It’s easy to consider the Fold 7 nothing more than an update to the Galaxy Z Fold 6, but in many ways, it feels like a huge step forward, not just for Samsung but for all folding phones. I spent a few hours with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in an exclusive preview, and here’s why I absolutely love what Samsung has done this year.

Read more
I tried the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 series – they’re sleek, but with a lot to prove
Watch 8 on a wrist

Trying out the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and Watch 8 Classic is a tough gig - not in terms of it being a hardship to try out two high-end models, but that it's impossible to assess them with only 30 minutes’ use.

I can easily talk about the improved design and the fit of the straps etc, but the real changes are within the health ecosystem, and they'll need sustained testing to really understand if they're any good.

Read more