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.
1910s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Graphite
1910s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Graphite
1950s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel, Canvas, Cardboard
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
1890s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Archival Paper
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Handmade Paper, Pencil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Watercolor, Gouache
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Tempera
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pencil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
Early 1900s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil, Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1930s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pencil
1880s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Tempera
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Crayon, Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pencil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Drawing inspiration from a boathouse floating on the water at Coal Harbour in Vancouver, artist Maurice Dionne paints this idle watercolor scene. In the foregro...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Artist Judy Mudd embarks on a scenic journey along the Atlantic coast in search of inspiration for her rural collection. "One of the most memorable places I v...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal
1870s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel