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.
1980s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
Early 1900s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Ink
19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1910s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Foil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pencil
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
Artist Comments
Artist Judy Mudd references one of the several houses she saw while on a waking tour. Included in a garden show near her home, the house features a beautiful ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Gouache, Paper
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Mixed Media
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Crayon
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Archival Paper
1960s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma presents a snow-capped landscape enveloped by light fog. The abstract imagery takes the viewer into a dreamlike world ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma exhibits an abstract landscape of dark misty mountains. The imagery takes the viewer into a dreamlike world of meander...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
1890s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma illustrates the Mingtang in the ancient city of Datong, Shanxi Province–a national key cultural protected site. "It is one of the four great ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma depicts a temple towering on the ancient city walls of China. These buildings stand as critical defensive structures and serve as important pro...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma presents an impressionist depiction of the Hanging Temple, a famous cultural landmark in China. Its Chinese name takes the character "Xuan" fro...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
1990s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Cardboard, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma exhibits the Shanhua Temple, located inside the ancient city of Datong in Shanxi Province–a key cultural heritage site under state-level prot...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma paints the entrance to Shanhua Temple, located inside the ancient city of Datong in Shanxi Province–a key cultural relic under state-level ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1980s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma shares a view of the Hanging Temple, a famous cultural landmark in China. Its Chinese name takes the character "Xuan" from Chinese Taoism and ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Acrylic