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.
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1910s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1960s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel
Late 19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pastel, Illustration Board
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Carbon Pencil
1960s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1930s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Oil Pastel
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Gouache
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1950s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Laid Paper
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Rice Paper
1910s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Paper
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
1870s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Late 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil, Paper, Watercolor
1950s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Graphite
1960s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Rag Paper
1910s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Monotype
1930s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Lithograph
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
This is a painting done en plein air, and is my impression of shoreline grasses and distant hills, with the intrigue of a train coming through and just in vie...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Ink, Mixed Media, Watercolor, Pencil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Graphite
Artist Comments
Here are late summer sunflowers, girasoli, growing in a garden that also produces fresh seasonal vegetables for us locals. Sunflowers are always smiling, and ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Artist Comments
This artwork is from my Birds and Flowers series in which I develop harmonic composition depicting birds and plants. Inspired by traditional Japanese and Chinese ink paintings, I try to create unique compositions. This piece is on heavyweight paper and will need a frame for display.
About the Artist
Suren is an impressionist painter eloquently capturing nature, landscapes, and cityscapes in paint. His body of work reflects several different stylistic approaches. Suren’s scenes in oil are inspired by Impressionist masters Monet and Van Gogh, while his watercolor series of flowers and birds are influenced by Eastern styles of painting and the colors of the Middle Eastern environment. Suren believes his role as an artist is to remind viewers that we all are part of the same natural universe.
House Finch...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1970s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal, Ink
Early 19th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1960s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Early 1900s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pencil
1940s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Cardboard
1920s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Oil Pastel, Acrylic
Early 2000s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel
1910s Impressionist Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Board, Gouache, Watercolor, Paper