Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
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.
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Pastel, Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Watercolor
1980s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Pastel
2010s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Acrylic, Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Ink, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Pastel, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Late 19th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Pencil, Crayon
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Oil, Paper
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Oil Pastel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Oil Pastel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Oil Pastel
2010s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Late 20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
1920s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
1990s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Pencil
1980s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Color Pencil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Artist Comments
In this black-and-white abstract piece, the deliberate arrangement of diverse forms and colors gives rise to distinctive patterns. The non-representational qu...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Ink
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
19th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Ink
1980s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
1950s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Acrylic, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
1950s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Paper
2010s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Acrylic, Watercolor
Early 2000s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Mixed Media
2010s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
1980s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Artist Catherine McCargar displays a scarlet dragonfly landing on the branch of a magnolia bush. She captures the fleeting moment as it sips nectar from the flower. Its red wings match the fully bloomed magnolia, fittingly complementing the verdant green leaves. Catherine effectively uses organic curved lines to draw the viewer's eye through her intricate arrangement of buds, blooms, and leaves.
About the Artist
Impressionist Catherine McCargar expresses her deep admiration of nature through landscape paintings of Northern California...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor
1980s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Color Pencil
1960s Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Ink
Late 20th Century Impressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor