Impressionist Figurative 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.
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Early 20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Wood, Oil, Cardboard
1950s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Linen
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Early 20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1960s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Panel, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Gouache
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Gouache
Artist Comments
A young man sits under the shade of trees, sketching intently en plein air. The composition features artist Onelio Marerro's former student engaged with nature ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Watercolor
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1950s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Early 1900s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Acrylic
1970s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Masonite, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1890s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Board, Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Wood, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Ink, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
1950s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Linen
1940s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil Crayon, Oil, Acrylic
Artist Comments
A woman stands in the shallow water, sensing the expansive world around her. The pink and purple sky blends with the sea, creating an image of endless space. Th...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil