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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2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Paper, Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
Three sisters sit closely together on a couch, their fashion evoking the feeling of vintage Hollywood style. A black furry dog sits on the floor and enjoys th...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Acrylic
1960s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
1930s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Linen
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1890s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1990s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
Late 20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1970s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
A woman in a flowing white gown stands confidently against a background that blends almost seamlessly with her attire. She symbolizes purity and strength. The...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Acrylic
Late 20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Early 20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1980s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Pastel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1920s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1970s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Early 1900s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Cardboard, Oil
1890s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1910s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
1890s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Wood
1890s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Charcoal, Oil
1890s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
Artist Comments
Inspired by family photos from the 1960s, the artwork depicts two sisters enjoying a quiet morning. One reads a newspaper while the other prepares her breakfa...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Acrylic
1970s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1880s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
1980s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1930s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
1980s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 20th Century Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1890s Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil