Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
A peaceful rural scene unfolds in Pennsylvania Amish country. Artist Judy Mudd captures the calm and tradition of the Amish lifestyle, evident from the clothe...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Acrylic
Late 19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil, Paper
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache, Watercolor, Pencil
Artist Comments
Artist Maurice Dionne illustrates crowds of people walking along the street in an impressionistic representation. "Nimbus describes the luminous cloud or atmo...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Gouache
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1880s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 1900s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
1810s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Monotype
Late 19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Graphite
Artist Comments
Drawn to the repeating horizontal lines of the distant trees, rock wall, and water, artist Thomas Hoerber captures the scene with watercolor. Two boats rest peacefully by a dock along the Channel Islands in Ventura County, California. The sunlight provides a contrast between the whites of the vessels and the colors of the sea.
About the Artist
Artist Thomas Hoerber brings his lifelong experience as a make-up artist to his watercolor paintings. "I am drawn to the historical and the weathered because I find beauty in their character," says Thomas. Following his retirement from a 45-year career in the TV and film industry, he finds endless inspiration on the rugged California coast. His focus on painting different kinds of boats is inspired by all the time he spent fishing with his grandfather. Additionally, his motivation to capture coastal scenes stems from day trips to waterside cities and memories of deep-sea fishing, motorcycle riding...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache, Graphite, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Color Pencil
1890s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
1980s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pastel
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Acrylic
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Paper
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pastel
1870s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Rag Paper, Drypoint, Etching, Gouache
1910s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Graphite
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel, Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1970s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Laid Paper
1880s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel, Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor, Color Pencil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Board, Archival Paper
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel
1960s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1990s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Carbon Pencil, Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor, India Ink
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Crayon, Paper
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
Early 1900s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Gouache
1860s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pastel
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache