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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21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1910s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Panel, Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Olive trees fill an orchard in Provence, their leaves stretching towards the sky. Soft streaks of sunlight cast a gentle glow on the ground below. Painted usi...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Acrylic
Artist Comments
The fiery hues of the autumn trees contrast beautifully with the cool tones of the stream. The swift course of the water distorts the reflection of the gently...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Onelio Marrero depicts a bright and airy greenhouse in the New York Botanical Gardens. "The couple introduced me and my wife to this lovely place," sha...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Elizabeth Garat has always felt an affinity with trees. She came upon this view on a long walk during the golden hour in Ashland, Oregon. A gentle bree...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Acrylic
Artist Comments
Inspired by the pictures sent by his wife, artist David Thelen depicts the captivating allure of the Appalachian Trail. A sturdy branch dances with the surrou...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Mixed Media, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Charcoal, Watercolor