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.
Artist Comments
Artist Siyuan Ma presents a tantalizing view of snowcapped mountains in soothing tones of turquoise. He presents aesthetic imagery th...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Gouache
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Late 19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Laid Paper
1960s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 1900s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Artist Comments
Cozy cottages line up snugly on a quiet street in the coastal town of Mendocino, California. The scene leads to the top of the road, where the sky blends into...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1950s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Graphite
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1950s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Watercolor
1980s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel, Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Volatile clouds forming over Channel Islands Marina, near his home, inspired artist Thomas Hoeber to create this captivating piece. Two palm trees echo the se...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1880s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Graphite
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1970s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Etching
19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1890s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, 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 Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1980s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Archival Paper
1950s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Late 19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Graphite
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1950s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1960s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
Artist Catherine shares a peek into the beautiful autumnal woodlands of California, presenting her keen eye for color an...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
"This painting is a closer-up version of an earlier work called French Laundry," shares artist Catherine McCargar. She uses the same technique of priming the watercolor paper with a layer of gesso as the first painting. The process gives more fluidity to the paint, enabling her to execute wet-on-wet and to move it around as she sees fit. Catherine achieves a truly impressionistic painting with contrasting soft and hard edges that keep the viewer engaged.
About the Artist
Impressionist Catherine McCargar expresses her deep admiration of nature through landscape paintings of Northern California...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor