Impressionist 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.
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1920s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1980s Impressionist Paintings
Board, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1960s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Inspired by the scenery of Monterey Bay in California, artist Lisa Elley captures a picturesque ocean view dotted with flowers in the foreground. California p...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
A trail near Sedona’s airport reveals striking red rock formations and distant mesas. Gnarled trees scatter along the path, evoking a desert landscape that ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1920s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Raw Linen
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
1970s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor, Masonite
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Gouache
Late 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Gouache
19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Panel, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
1930s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Illustration Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1970s Impressionist Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Paper, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Wood Panel, Mixed Media, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Gouache, Watercolor, Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Ink, Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Wood Panel, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Board, Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Paper, Oil, Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1960s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1930s Impressionist Paintings
Paper, Pastel