Skip to main content

Impressionist Portrait Paintings

IMPRESSIONIST STYLE

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.

to
16
22
9
25
1
23
7
1
4
4
9
7
7
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
8
3
2
1
1
16
11
9
5
5
4
2
2
1
1
1
1
5
76
579
409
12
25
20
20
32
29
48
13
22
4
6
1
1
1
1
30
30
11
11
3
Style: Impressionist
Period: Early 1900s
"Marion Jones Farquhar" Frederick William Macmonnies, Tennis Olympian Portrait
Located in New York, NY
Frederick William Macmonnies Marion Jones Farquhar, 1905-11 Oil on canvas 24 x 20 inches Provenance: William Clerk Private Collection, New York Literature: Mary Smart, A Flight with Fame: The Life and Art of Frederick MacMonnies, with a Catalogue Raisonne of Sculpture and a Checklist of Paintings by E. Adina Gordon, Madison, Connecticut, 1996, no. 90. The work depicts Marion Jones Farquhar who, was an American tennis player who competed during the late 19th century and early 20th century. She won the singles titles at the 1899 and 1902 U.S championships and was the first American woman to medal at the Olympics placing Bronze in singles. Additionally, she was the artist's sister-in-law who often played and competed with MacMonnies in golf and tennis. MacMonnies would often study the movements of her form referenced in his sculpture. When MacMonnies won a doubles golf tournament he said "Marion dragged my dead weight thro' and won us the tournament, showing what great Generalship can do." A sculptor of classical figures, American-born Frederick MacMonnies had fame in the United States and Europe in the later half of the 19th century and early 20th century. He occasionally returned to America but lived most of his life as in expatriate in France. He was especially known for his lithe bronze figures, especially ones titled Diana. The classical names of these figures allowed him the appearance of propriety but gave him the opportunity to model svelte nudes. Frederick MacMonnies was one of the first American sculptors to recognize the potential market of the middle class. He copyrighted his works and then contracted with foundries to mass produce some of his figures such as Diana in smaller sizes. MacMonnies was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was a child prodigy at carving stone. At age 18, he worked in the studio of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and then persuaded him to become his assistant, keeping models damp and covered, running errands, and cleaning the studio. Evenings he studied at the Art Students League, Cooper Union, and the National Academy of Design. In Saint-Gaudens' studio, he met many of the wealthy people who shared Saint-Gaudens Beaux-Arts based ideas that art and architecture should be unified in order to create public art in America equal to that of classical antiquity or Renaissance Europe. Among the men that MacMonnies met through Saint-Gaudens who later furthered his career were architects Stanford White and Charles McKim...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Characterful Portrait French Man with Hat & Pipe Signed & Dated 1903 Oil Paint
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of a Man with a Hat holding a Pipe French School, signed and dated 1903 oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 21.75 x 18 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: s...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Elegante au Parc - French Impressionist School, Figure in Landscape
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
A simply beautiful French Impressionist School oil on canvas of an elegant woman wearing a white blouse and black skirt and hat seated in a chair reading. Her parasol rests against t...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Fine Impressionist Oil Painting Portrait of Bearded Man Amazing Frame d. 1901
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Portrait of J. Knowles inscribed and dated to label verso oil on canvas, framed in hand painted elaborate frame framed: 25 x 22 inches canvas: 22 x 1...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Young Woman - British Edwardian art female portrait oil painting
Located in London, GB
An original oil on canvas on panel by Sir James Jebusa Shannon. The portrait dates to the Edwardian period and depicts a bold British Impressionist painting of a beautiful young woma...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Kitty and Silver Ship - British Edwardian Impressionist oil painting
Located in London, GB
This stunning, large British Edwardian Impressionist portrait oil painting is by noted portrait painter James Jebusa Shannon. Painted circa 1909 the sitter is his eldest daughter, Kitty. She is holding a family heirloom, the silver ship which has been depicted in several of shannon's works. The painting of his daughter, just on the cusp of entering womanhood, was dear to the artist and stayed within the family long after his death. The vibrant reds and bold brushwork, so unmistakable Shannon, make this an excellent example of a very personal and precious Edwardian family portrait oil painting. Provenance. The Artist. Lady Florence Shannon. By descent to Kitty Shannon Keigwin, the Artist's daughter. By descent to Julia Gibbons, the Artist's granddaughter. Estate of Julia Gibbons to the present owner. Exhibited. "Seeking Beauty: Paintings by James Jebusa Shannon," Debra Force...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

The Rendezvous - Scottish 1908 art portrait oil painting Elsie Viola Robinson
Located in London, GB
This stunning romantic exhibited Scottish Edwardian Impressionist portrait oil painting is by noted Scottish artist James Wallace. Painted in 1908 with excellent provenance, the brus...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Artist's Grandson - Edwardian Impressionist horse art oil painting
Located in London, GB
An original large oil on canvas/panel by Sir James Jebusa Shannon. The portrait dates to the Edwardian period and depicts a bold British Impressionist painting of his grandson Jeb Ke...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Young Lady in a Yellow Dress - British Victorian art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This lovely British Victorian Pre-Raphaelite portrait oil painting is by Royal Academy artist Sir William Blake Richmond. Painted circa 1900 it is a stunning example of his work with...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Miss Anna Simonson - British art 1900 oil painting
Located in London, GB
This powerful British portrait oil painting is by noted portrait artist James Jebusa Shannon. To be honest this portrait blows us away. Painted circa 1900 the sitter is Miss Anna S. ...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

At the Foot of the Statue - Scottish art Impressionist figurative oil painting
Located in London, GB
A fine large oil painting by Scottish listed artist William Strang. This is a super evocative oil on canvas which depicts a family at "The Foot of the Statue". It was exhibited in 1904 in Bradford exhibition of fine arts lent by L W Hodson of Wolverhampton who was a patron of his work. This is a fine example of an early 20th century Scottish oil with good subject. It is a good size and signed. This wouldn't be out of place in Kelvingrove Gallery in Glasgow. Signed lower left. Provenance. Bradford Art Gallery 1904. Sotheby 19th June 2002 Guide price £20000-30000GBP. Condition. Oil on canvas. Image size 30 inches by 25 inches and in excellent condition. Housed in a fine period frame, 39 by 34 inches framed and in good condition. William Strang (1859-1921) was born at Dumbarton, the son of Peter Strang, builder, and educated at the Dumbarton Academy. He worked for fifteen months in the counting-house of a firm of shipbuilders before going to London in 1875 when he was sixteen. There he studied art under Alphonse Legros at the Slade School for six years. Strang became assistant master in the etching class, and had great success as an etcher. He was one of the original members of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, and his work was a part of their first exhibition in 1881. Some of his early plates were published in The Portfolio and other art magazines. He worked in many manners, etching, dry point, mezzotint, sand-ground mezzotint, and burin engraving. Lithography and wood-cutting were also used by him to create pictures. He cut a large wood engraving of a man ploughing, later published by the Art for Schools Association. A privately produced catalogue of his engraved work contained more than three hundred items. Amongst his earlier works were Tinkers, St. Jerome, A Woman Washing Her Feet, An Old Book-stall with a Man Lighting His Pipe from a Flare, and The Head of a Peasant Woman on sand-ground mezzotint. Later plates such as Hunger, The Bachelor's End and The Salvation Army were also important. Some of his best etchings were done as series—one of the earliest, illustrating poet William Nicholson's Ballad of Aken Drum, is remarkable for clear, delicate workmanship in the shadow tones, showing great skill and power over his materials, and for strong drawing. Another praised series was The Pilgrim's Progress, revealing austere sympathy with John Bunyan's teaching. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Ancient Mariner and Strang's own Allegory of Death and The Plowman's Wife, have served him with suitable imaginative subjects. Some of Rudyard Kipling's stories were also illustrated by him, and his likeness of Kipling was one of his most successful portrait plates. Other etched portraits included those of Ernest Sichel and of J.B. Clark, with whom Strang collaborated in illustrating Baron Munchausen...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Daughter Reading to Mother - British 1900 Impressionist portrait oil painting
Located in London, GB
This most charming oil painting is attributed to the circle of noted British Impressionist artist Philip Wilson Steer. Painted circa 1900 this lovely Edwardian Impressionist paintin...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Artist's Family Portrait - British American Impressionist art oil painting
Located in London, GB
This stunning British American Impressionist portrait oil on canvas painting is by Sir James Jebusa Shannon circa 1905. The painting is of the artist and his wife Florence and daught...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Lady - British Impressionist 1900 art female artist oil painting
By Florence Kate Upton
Located in London, GB
This superb British Impressionist portrait oil painting is by noted female artist Florence Kate Upton. Born in America to English parents, Upton visited Britain with her family aged 20 and remained here to further her art career. Although a children's book illustrator, Upton was first a painter and exhibited at the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy. This lovely portrait, painted circa 1900, is a half length profile view of a lady in a black dress with gold front panel. A vibrant peacock blue shawl is across her arm and the background is a rich plum coloured drape. She has a black and silver choker...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Sisters - British Edwardian art Newlyn School portrait oil painting
Located in London, GB
This superb British Edwardian portrait oil painting is attributed to noted Newlyn School artist Albert Chevallier Tayler. Painted circa 1905 the painting is of the head and shoulders...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Woman - Blue - British Edwardian Impressionist art oil painting
Located in London, GB
Painted by the noted British Impressionist Philip Wilson Steer, this fine oil portrait depicts a young woman and was painted circa 1900. Educated at South Kensington Schools and Acad...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Young Cornish Girl - British art 1905 oil painting female artist
Located in London, GB
This lovely British Edwardian Impressionist portrait oil painting is by female artist Sybil Maude. Painted circa 1905 the painting is a charming seated portrait of a young Cornish gi...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a lady - British Edwardian Impressionist art portrait oil painting
Located in London, GB
This superb British Edwardian Impressionist portrait oil painting is by noted portrait artist James Jebusa Shannon. Painted circa 1906, oil on panel and part of a family collection,...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of an Edwardian Lady - British art Impressionist oil painting black hat
Located in London, GB
A beautiful, colourful Impressionistic portrait of an Edwardian lady by Arthur Hacker RA which dates to circa 1905. A rare and fine oil on panel in excellent condition. A real quality British Impressionist painting in a gilded oak frame of the period. Signed lower left. Provenance. Sotheby’s London. Condition. Oil on panel. Image size 14 inches by 10 inches. In excellent condition. Housed in a gilded oak frame gallery frame, 25 by 19 inches framed. Excellent condition. Arthur Hacker RA (25 September 1858 - 12 November 1919) was an English classicist painter born in London. Hacker was the son of Edward Hacker (1813–1905), a line engraver specialising in animal and sporting prints (who was also for many years the official Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths for Kentish Town in the St Pancras registration district, north London). In his art he was most known for painting religious scenes and portraits, and his art was also influenced by his extensive travels in Spain and North Africa. He studied at the Royal Academy between 1867 and 1880, and at the Atelier Bonnat in Paris. He was twice exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1878 and 1910, and was elected an Academician in 1910. In 1894 he was the subject of a bust by Edward Onslow Ford...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

Lonely Mother and Child in Embrace - Female Illustrator
Located in Miami, FL
In this interior illustration for "When the Heart Beats Young" by J.W. Riley, pioneering female illustrator Ethel Franklin Betts creates an intimate statement of mother and child in an embrace. The composition is abstract with patterns that suggest the influence of Asian art—initialed lower right. Work is framed under glass - Oil on board Ethel Franklin Betts Bains (September 6, 1877 – October 9, 1959) was an American illustrator primarily of children's books during the golden age of American illustration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Betts first gained work illustrating magazines, including St. Nicholas Magazine, McClure's, and Collier's. Beginning in 1904, she was commissioned to illustrate several books, including James Whitcomb Riley's The Raggedy Man, While the Heart Beats Young, and Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Jeune femme à l'ombre d'un arbre
Located in LE HAVRE, FR
Georges MANZANA-PISSARRO (1871-1961) Jeune femme à l'ombre d'un arbre Circa : 1903 Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard Format of the work: 27 x 36 cm Stamp of the artist on the back...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Cardboard

Herman Hyneman Original American Portrait, Signed and Dated 1907
Located in Larchmont, NY
Herman Hyneman (1849-1907) Sunday Morning, 1907 Oil on board 15 3/4 x 11 1/2 in. Framed: 21 1/3 x 17 1/2 in. Signed lower right: Copyright 1907 by H.N. Hyneman Inscribed verso: Sunday Morning by H.N. Hyneman The following is from Peter Jung who credits "a friend named Jeff Gold on Long Island." Herman N. Hyneman (1849 - 1907) was born in 1849 to one of the most prominent Jewish families in Philadelphia. Unlike most Jewish families of the time, his embraced and encouraged his artistic talent. In 1874, Hyneman followed his first cousin Moses Ezekiel, National Academy member, to Europe to study. They first went to Germany and then to France where Hyneman began eight years of study with Leon Bonnat, the French Master. In Paris, the twenty-five year old Hyneman resided in a studio building at 75 Boulevard Clichy, with expatriates Frederic Arthur Bridgeman, Charles Sprague Pearce, Milne Ramsey, and Edwin Blashfield. Hyneman was clearly exposed to the works of these more experienced artists, as well as that of Walter Gay. In 1879, one of Hyneman's genre paintings, entitled "Desdemona", was accepted into the Paris Salon. That painting received favorable reviews both in Europe, and later in Philadlephia where it was exhibited alongside the works of other Philadelphia Artists exhibiting at the Salon that included Thomas Eakins, Pearce, Edward May...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Board, Oil

Fine 1900's French Belle Epoque Period Portrait of a Lady, signed & dated oil
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Belle Epoque Lady French School, signed and dated 1907 oil painting on canvas: 24 x 19.5 inches antique original gilt frame: 29 x 24 inches condition:...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of a Young Woman, American Impressionist
Located in Miami, FL
Portrait of a young woman in a white blouse in the style of William Merritt Chase. ( American Impressionism). This work was most likely painted from life and is wonderfully painted a...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Pierrot aux bonnet noir - French Impressionist Oil, Portrait by Armand Henrion
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
A charming oil on panel circa 1900 by French impressionist painter Armand Francois Henrion depicting a portrait of a happy Pierrot - a French clown - wearing white ruffles and a black hat. The portrait is contrasted by an orange-red background. Signature: Signed lower right Dimensions: Framed: 9.5"x8" Unframed: 7"x5.5" Provenance: Private French collection Armand François Joseph Henrion...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

French North African early 20th century Impressionist, Fishermen coming ashore
Located in Woodbury, CT
French North African early 20th-century Impressionist, Fishermen coming ashore with their daily catch. André Humbert was born in Paris on the 27th of November. He was a student of t...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Study of Woman
Located in Soquel, CA
Portrait of a Italian woman by American impressionist painter David Rosenthal (American, 1876-1949), c. 1900. Estate stamp on verso. Image, 11"H x 17.5"L. David Rosenthal was a Cincinnati artist who was known as an American Impressionist. He studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati with Frank Duveneck, Lewis Meakin, and Joseph Henry Sharp. After finishing, Rosenthal traveled to Munich to study with G. Flad and Azbe and exhibited at the Kuenstler Verein. He won a scholarship at the Belle Arts in Rome, became a member of the Cirelo Internationale, and continued his studies at the Academy of Milan in Florence. During his extended residence in Europe, Rosenthal moved in artistic circles from Munich to Rome. Several European sketchbooks still exist from this time, and show the skillful facility fostered by his academic background. Italian and German landscape scenes figure prominently in his early oils, which are dated around 1890 and designate Italian cities and towns on the back of canvases. Some of his etchings from a later period are probably based on earlier European sketches...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Portrait of Catulle-Mendes
Located in Wiscasett, ME
Dimensions listed include the frame
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Charcoal, Pastel

Rosella, Romantic Portrait circa 1900 by Francesco Paolo Michetti
By Francesco Paolo Michetti
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Francesco Paolo Michetti, Italian (1851 - 1929) Title: Rosella Year: circa 1900 Medium: Oil on Canvas, Signed Size: 30 x 20 inches [76.2 x 50.8 cm] Framed: 40 x 30 inches [10...
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Painter with a Pipe, Oil on Canvas
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Unknown after Gaetano Esposito Title: Painter with a Pipe Year: circa 1900 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed illegibly verso Size: 16.5 x 13 in....
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Finely Painted Antique American School Ballerina Portrait Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American impressionist interior scene oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. No signature found.
Category

Early 1900s Impressionist Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Impressionist portrait paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Impressionist portrait paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add portrait paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple, yellow and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Suchitra Bhosle, Christopher Clark, Claude Benard, and Michael Alford. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Impressionist portrait paintings, so small editions measuring 3 inches across are also available. Prices for portrait paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1 and tops out at $985,000, while the average work sells for $1,450.

Recently Viewed

View All