Impressionist 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.
Artist Comments
Artist Faye Vander Veer captures the majesty of Notre Dame Cathedral at dusk in this evocative painting. She took the reference photograph long before the devas...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Panel
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Paper, Oil Crayon, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Faye Vander Veer creates a warm restaurant interior with ambient lighting and muted colors. She emphasizes more detail in the areas of interest while k...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Paper, Gouache
Artist Comments
Artist Onelio Marrero often takes trips into Manhattan to visit museums, sketch, photograph, and observe the rhythm of the streets. Based on these observations,...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Panel
Artist Comments
A tapas restaurant comes into view, a place for locals and tourists alike to relish the pleasures of food and drinks. The warm...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Gold Leaf
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Gesso, Canvas, Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Early 2000s Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Acrylic, Oil Pastel, Canvas, Glue, Mixed Media
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Onelio Marrero depicts the bustling energy of Midtown Manhattan traffic, looking south on a rainy afternoon. Dashing yet precise brushstrokes convey move...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Acrylic, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Linen
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Paper
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Color
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Giclée
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Board, Canvas