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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Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
This painting captures the setting sun over a game trail in Rockaway, NJ, artist Onelio Marrero’s hometown. A cold snap coated the ground, highlighting the ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Panel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1970s Impressionist Paintings
Pastel, Wax Crayon
Late 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Cedar trees, bluebonnets, and cacti grace a hilltop near Willow City, Texas. A body of water peeks through the edge of the grass-covered ground. The painterly...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1950s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
The rolling Cotswold hills in England blend with the misty sky. Painted with a brush and palette knife, the rich strokes capture the depth and lushness of the f...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Acrylic
1970s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
Early 1900s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Color, Canvas
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1880s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1950s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
A person walks down a rainy Manhattan street under a blue umbrella. Glowing storefronts line the sidewalk, adding warmth to the cool, wet surroundings. Inspir...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Linen
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1980s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
1890s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1970s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Gouache
1980s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Early 19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1890s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas