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.
Southern Landscape
Located in Milford, NH
A fine gouache painting of a Southern landscape by American artist Beatrice Lavis Cuming (1903-1975). Cuming was born in Brooklyn, NY, studied lo...
Paper, Gouache
$3,800
"Grass Tuft II" plein air impressionist waterscape with cool tones, unframed
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Grass Tuft II" is an Impressionist waterscape painting. Painted en plein air. Textural and moody. unframed signed at bottom Artist's state...
Canvas, Oil
"Swamp XV" plein air Impressionist waterscape with cool tones
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Swamp XV" is an Impressionist waterscape of a pond's surface. unframed signed at bottom Artist's statement: Even as a child of 2, I had a...
Canvas, Oil
"Swamp IV" Impressionist, waterscape, cool tones
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"Swamp IV" is an Impressionist waterscape painting of a pond's surface. Painted en plein air. Unframed. Signed at bottom. Artist's statemen...
Canvas, Oil
"Brooklyn Bridge III 01.30.2011" oil painting of Iconic NYC at dusk, framed
By Nelson White
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Oil painting by Nelson H. White, Painted en plein air along New York City's East River in 2011. Geometric blocks of color make up the Manhattan Skyline. Signed, lower right corner....
Oil
Healdsburg Ca 11.08.2009
By Nelson White
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Painted en plein air. Framed Dimensions: 11.5 x 16.5 inches Artist Bio: Nelson H. White was born in New London, Connecticut in 1932. White has been surrounded by art and artists f...
Oil
Sunset Lido Di Torre Del Lago 04.25.2003
By Nelson White
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
A soft sunset over a distant horizon that peeks through the dunes of the beach. Painted en plein air. Frame Dimensions 13.5 x 17.5in Artist Bio: Nelson H. White was born in New Lo...
Oil
Tellaro Italy
By Nelson White
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
A foggy Tellaro, Italy. Painted en plein air. Artist Bio: Nelson H. White was born in New London, Connecticut in 1932. White has been surrounded by art and artists from the time he...
Oil
Mashomack Point, 2012
By Nelson White
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
A marshy landscape painted en plein air. Artist Bio: Nelson H. White was born in New London, Connecticut in 1932. White has been surrounded by art and artists from the time he was b...
Oil
Versilia, Italy 01.31.2020
By Nelson White
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
White's recognizable orange umbrella's are featured in this picturesque beach scene. The textures and impasto that White always masterfully applies with his palette knife are present...
Oil, Panel
The Waves 09.29.22
By Nelson White
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
A classic Nelson White plein-air oil painting. The waves are painted by pallet knife, which allows for White's signature impasto of the white caps. Artist Bio Nelson H. White was bo...
Oil
"Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste" Oil painting, impressionist, plein air, France
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Orsolic Dalessio's plein air painting is a picturesque depiction of the French countryside. Her impressionistic brushstrokes along with the soothing colors of nature, create a dreamy...
Oil, Panel, Wood Panel
"Last Light at Northwest Landing" - Contemporary plein air painting East Hampton
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An oil painting created en plein air. The setting sun casts a bright white glow upon the water's surface. A sailboat makes its way home in the distance. The shore is dotted with wildflowers and sand dunes. Framed dimensions: 13.5 x 17.5 inches Tina Orsolic Dalessio is a figurative painter born and raised in Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated from Florence Academy of Art in June 2018. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Zagreb Law School, LL.M. degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a PhD degree from the University of Maastricht, Faculty of Law. Before becoming a painter, she worked as a lecturer and researcher in law, specializing in philosophy of law and European Union law. Alongside her husband Marc Dalessio, she discovered her passion for fine arts, which lead her to a life changing decision to leave academia and devote herself fully to painting. After being accepted into the prestigious BP Portrait Award...
Oil, Panel
A circular dish decorated by Paul Helleu with a Portrait of a Woman
Located in PARIS, FR
This dish, inspired by the bellas of the Italian Renaissance, bears witness to the fruitful collaboration that began in 1882 between the ceramist Théodore Deck and the young artist Paul Helleu, before the latter became the fashionable portraitist of feminine elegance. 1. Paul Helleu In 1913 Robert de Montesquiou wrote in his book devoted to the painter: "Helleu was born in Vannes in 1859, of a Breton father and a Parisian mother". He hardly knew his father, who died when he was three years old, and was brought up entirely by his mother, who sent him to continue his studies at the Lycée Chaptal in Paris in 1873. The discovery of Edouard Manet's Chemin de Fer at the 1874 Salon is reported to be at the origin of his artistic vocation. He worked against his mother's wishes in the studio of the painter Gérôme, also frequented by the painters Giovanni Boldini, Jean-Louis Forain and Antonio de La Gandara...
Earthenware, Glaze
$4,500
"Bookstore from the Bank" 2017 oil painting, impressionist street scene at night
By Viktor Butko
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Painted en plein air, in Sag Harbor, New York. Situated in the People's United Bank parking lot, Butko looks over to the opposite side of Main Street. Beneath tall, fully bloomed trees, illuminated storefronts glisten after they close up for the day. Victor Butko was born into a long line of artists, and has been mentored in painting since the age of 8. He is currently the youngest artist exhibiting at Thomas Kearns McCarthey Gallery, one of the foremost dealers in the United States for Russian Impressionist art...
Canvas, Oil