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.
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Late 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Lisa Elley shows her signature palette knife trees textured with deep impasto strokes. The foliage exhibits subtle movement and richness in colors. Lis...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Early 19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
1990s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Gouache
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media
19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Lacquer, Oil, Acrylic, Cardboard
1960s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1980s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Panel
1910s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Cardboard
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Pencil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1980s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1960s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1920s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Wood Panel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Board, Oil
1990s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1930s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Linen
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Paint, Acrylic, Board
1990s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Illustration Board
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Wood Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Ink, Oil, Acrylic
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Early 1900s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1960s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Paper, Oil
1920s Impressionist Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
2010s Impressionist Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Plaster, Wood
Early 2000s Impressionist Paintings
Watercolor
1950s Impressionist Paintings
Wood, Oil, Cardboard
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
18th Century Impressionist Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1920s Impressionist Paintings
Oil
1970s Impressionist Paintings
Oil