Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Emerging in 19th-century France, Impressionist art embraced loose brushwork and plein-air painting to respond to the movement of daily life. Although the pioneers of the Impressionist movement — Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir — are now household names, their work was a radical break with an art scene led and shaped by academic traditions for around two centuries. These academies had oversight of a curriculum that emphasized formal drawing, painting and sculpting techniques and historical themes.
The French Impressionists were influenced by a group of artists known as the Barbizon School, who painted what they witnessed in nature. The rejection of pieces by these artists and the later Impressionists from the salons culminated in a watershed 1874 exhibition in Paris that was staged outside of the juried systems. After a work of Monet’s was derided by a critic as an unfinished “impression,” the term was taken as a celebration of their shared interest in capturing fleeting moments as subject matter, whether the shifting weather on rural landscapes or the frenzy of an urban crowd. Rather than the exacting realism of the academic tradition, Impressionist paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings represented how an artist saw a world in motion.
Many Impressionist painters were inspired by the perspectives in imported Japanese prints alongside these shifts in European painting — Édouard Manet drew on ukiyo-e woodblock prints and depicted Japanese design in his Portrait of Émile Zola, for example. American artists such as Mary Cassatt and William Merritt Chase, who studied abroad, were impacted by the work of the French artists, and by the late 19th century American Impressionism had its own distinct aesthetics with painters responding to the rapid modernization of cities through quickly created works that were vivid with color and light.
Find a collection of authentic Impressionist art on 1stDibs.
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache, Watercolor, Pencil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
1940s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache, Graphite, Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Crayon, Paper
1930s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Crayon, Watercolor, Pencil
2010s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Oil
1910s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Oil, Panel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache, Watercolor, Pencil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
1960s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
1970s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Pastel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache, Watercolor, Pencil
1980s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Charcoal
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
1890s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
India Ink, Illustration Board
1980s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pencil, Cardboard
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache, Watercolor, Pencil
1920s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Paper
2010s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Vellum
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache, Watercolor, Pencil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite, Watercolor
Late 20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Ink, Foam Board
1930s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
India Ink, Board
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pencil
2010s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
1960s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Masonite, Paper, Pastel
2010s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
1970s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Archival Paper, Pastel
1960s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor, Pencil
1960s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pastel, Paper
1960s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor, Pencil
20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
1910s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
1920s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pastel, Laid Paper
1960s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pen, Ink
1920s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pastel, Paper, Illustration Board
1910s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Pencil, Color Pencil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
1910s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
India Ink, Watercolor, Board
Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
Early 2000s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite, Archival Paper
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Graphite
1980s Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Mixed Media
Early 20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Crayon, Pencil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Acrylic