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Impressionist 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.

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Period: 19th Century
Period: 1960s
Style: Impressionist
French landscape painting with children, figures & field Scene 'The Harvest'
Located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
'The Harvest' is a stunning pastoral scene by Victor Gabriel Gilbert. Victor Gabriel Gilbert was born in Paris, 13th February 1847. He studied for a perio...
Category

Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Approaching Storm with White Caps and High Sea
Located in Missouri, MO
Framed Size: approx. 37 x 55 inches Canvas Size: approx. 24 x 41.5 inches Thomas Rose Miles (British, 1844 - 1916) The grandeur of the oceans has always inspired artistic endeavors. Over, under and upon the boundless seas, dramatic vignettes take shape, and humans set to capture the array of the aquatic muse. Thomas Rose Miles was one such inspired artist, to illustrated the strength of his muse, who wrote poetic verse on the verso of nearly every painting he performed. The sea's beauty is most often shown in direct competition with its power and unpredictable nature on his canvases and watercolors. He includes the human element, usually over-matched yet persevering against the heavy swells and weather-driven might, carrying on the Marine Art Legacy that was birthed in the best of the Dutch Maritime...
Category

Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Oil

'Marchande de Fleurs' a Parisian street scene with soldier, figures & flowercart
Located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
'Marchande de Fleurs' a Parisian street scene with soldier, figures & beautiful flower-cart Gabriel Gilbert was renowned for his paintings of Parisian market scenes, of which this is a fantastic example. Gilbert’s works sit alongside Monet’s and Van Gogh’s in galleries and collections across the world. He established himself as a painter of French genre scenes...
Category

19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Painting of a river scene with nude bathers surrounded by green 'Les Baigneuse'
Located in Shrewsbury, Shropshire
A lush verdant painting of three nude bathers in a French river. It speaks of summer days spent wild swimming, picnics filled with cheese & wine and hear...
Category

19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Gray Brothers
By Charles Harold Davis
Located in Missouri, MO
Charles Harold Davis (1856-1933) "Gray Brothers" Oil on Canvas Signed Lower Left Canvas Size: 30 x 24 inches Framed Size: 35 x 30.5 inches Born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, Charles ...
Category

Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Made in the Shade
By William Henry Howe
Located in Missouri, MO
William Henry Howe (1846-1929) "Made in the Shade" 1887 Oil on Canvas Signed and Dated Site Size: approx. 14.5 x 21.5 inches Frames Size: approx. 17.5 x 24.5 inches Provenance: Private Collection, St. Louis, Missouri thence by descent William Henry Howe was born in Ravenna, Ohio in 1846. Of him it was written: "In the late nineteenth century no American artist was more thoroughly identified with the painting of cows than William Henry Howe." (Richter 128). In a style that combined Tonalism and Realism, he was a painter of light-filled pastoral landscapes that sometimes had sheep as well as cattle tended by their shepherds and herders. He began a career as a businessman in St. Louis, and in his mid-thirties, changed course and went to Dusseldorf Germany to study art at the Royal Academy. In 1881, he went to Paris and studied with animal painters Felix Vuillefroy and Otto de Thoren. He also exhibited his work at the Paris Salons and the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889. Travels in Holland in the 1880s with other artists inspired his interest in pastoral subjects, and during that time he began his cattle paintings...
Category

1880s Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Franco-Prussian Battle Scene
Located in Missouri, MO
Wilfrid Constant Beauquesne (1847 - 1913) "Franco-Prussian Battle Scene" c. 1900 Oil on Canvas Signed Lower Right Site Size: approx 22 x 28 inches Framed Size: approx 35 x 40 inches French artistry was deeply influenced by three wars during the 19th century and, accordingly, the artistic imagination was not lost upon the public. "Patriotism comes to the aid of battle painters," a contemporary remarked, "presenting them with a sympathetic public already fascinated by the subject." After the brief Franco-Prussian conflict of 1870, French painters were particularly anxious to retrieve national pride by presenting works which reflected their own national heroism versus enemy brutality. Known for his scenic depictions of this war, Wilfried Beauquesne, a native of Rennes, France, was undoubtedly influenced in his selection of subjects by his instructors at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Vernet-Lecomte and Horace Vernet were both well known military artists. Vernet had actually lived and worked during the period of Napoleonic conflicts - being awarded the Legion of Honor by the Emperor's own hand. Beauquesne exhibited regularly at the annual Paris Salon between 1887 and 1899, as well as throughout Europe. In 1890, illustrating the fortunes of life, The Art Amateur ran the following item in its "Gossip Column:" "A queer story comes to me from Paris. A commission agent made a bargain with a poor painter, living out at Saint-Maude, to paint military subjects for him, at two francs an hour. The agent changed the signature to that of Gaubault, and sold the pictures to various dealers. On day, by chance, the poor painter came to Paris, went to the Salon, and was astonished to see one of his pictures there. He look at the catalogue, and found the name of the artist and the address of the dealer where he was to be found, The poor artist went to the dealer and introduced himself saying, "I am Gaubault." "Most happy to make your acquaintance," replied the dealer. "Your pictures sell very well, and I have been wanting to see you for the last six years." "But my name is not Gaubault, it is Beauquesne." Explanations followed. The dishonest commission agent disappeared; and Beauquesne restored his real signature on the pictures, which had made his pseudonym almost famous...
Category

Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Tonalist Ancient Cityscape Painting
By Andrew Melrose
Located in Houston, TX
Tonalist ancient cityscape painting by 19th century artist Andrew Melrose. Gorgeous oil painting of an ancient city on water with tones of orange, ...
Category

19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Oil

Old Mission & Cypress Trees
Located in Saratoga Springs, NY
Signed lower left A prominent landscape and marine painter, Jules Eugène Pages spent most of his career in France where he was a well-known Impressionist painter, but he maintain...
Category

Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Scottish Marine
By Andrew Black
Located in West Hollywood, CA
An exceptional early watercolor by Scottish artist Andrew Black. "Scottish Marine", is an original watercolor, signed, c.1885, with an image dimesnion of 4 x 6 inches.
Category

Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Impressionist paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Impressionist 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 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, purple, green, orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Vahe Yeremyan, Richard Szkutnik, Iryna Kastsova, and Michael Budden. 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 paintings, so small editions measuring 0.1 inches across are also available.

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