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.
Washington Square with Trade Center Towers II
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist: Wolf von dem Bussche American (born Germany) 1934-2014 Title: Washington Square with Trade Center Towers II Year: 1976 Medium: Gelatin Sil...
Silver Gelatin
Reflections in the Maine Woods
By Harold Davis
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary: This image reminds of Walden Pond, and the peaceful views seen by Henry Thoreau. Words that describe this piece: pond, reflections, au...
Photographic Paper
"Night Train #9" Outside Scenery in Black and White Viewed From a Speedy Train
Located in Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
This artwork by Philippe Saucourt was created with a mixed technique of acrylic painting on photos printed on paper mounted on a wood panel. This artwork is varnished and it is frame...
Paper, Acrylic, Wood Panel, Photogram
Black and White Tree, Nature Photography Print, 2016
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary: This Black and white image is a standard nature shot taken digitally and converted to infrared. Keywords: Infrared, nature, black and white, photo
Paper, Digital
Water Music Series #5040 : landscape photography
By Holly Gordon
Located in New York, NY
Landscape photography by fine art and documentary photographer Holly Gordon. Holly Gordon is one of the many treasures that Long Island has to offer, co...
Archival Pigment
Winter Tree
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary: This image was taken in a wintry day in Ann Arbor , Michigan. You can really sense the cold and the snow by looking at this image. I like the solid layer of snow at the bottom of the image. It's a very moody image. Keywords: tree, infrared, photo, black and white, branch, branches, winter, snow, winter tree...
Paper, Digital
Water Music Series #4996 : landscape photography
By Holly Gordon
Located in New York, NY
Landscape photography by fine art and documentary photographer Holly Gordon. Holly Gordon is one of the many treasures that Long Island has to offer, co...
Archival Pigment
Water Music Series #5037 : landscape photography
By Holly Gordon
Located in New York, NY
Landscape photography by fine art and documentary photographer Holly Gordon. Holly Gordon is one of the many treasures that Long Island has to offer, co...
Archival Pigment
Wooden Pier, Poland
By Roman Loranc
Located in Carmel, CA
Hand printed by the artist. Roman Loranc is no longer printing. Edition 2/40 Limited Edition Printed 2007 (vintage) Excellent condition Framed in walnut brown metal.
Silver Gelatin
$2,323
H 23.63 in W 31.5 in D 0.08 in
Johannesbergkapelle, Mountain Chapel, black and white photography, landscape
Located in Vienna, Vienna
Black and white fine art long exposure landscape photography. Johannesberg chapel with the beautiful mountains and the traunsee in stormy weather with gigantic cloud, Traunkirchen, A...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Southern Oaks
By Beth Moon
Located in Sante Fe, NM
All photographs are platinum/palladium prints. These metals are hand coated on 100% rag cotton water color paper with natural deckled edges and contact printed. Since platinum, like ...
Photographic Paper, Platinum
$1,859
H 23.63 in W 23.63 in D 0.08 in
Harness Racing, Beach, black and white photograph, limited edition landscape
Located in Vienna, Vienna
Gerald Berghammer - Black and white minimalist landscape photography. Harness racing on a deserted sand beach near the ocean on a rainy day. Archival pigment ink print, edition of 9...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
$4,400
H 32 in W 48 in D 3 in
No Charges - American Flag Painting over Vintage Newsprint Photo Collage
Located in Chicago, IL
Patrick Burns No Charges original newsprint, acrylic, polymer, resin on panel 32h x 48w in 81.28h x 121.92w cm PB0004 Patrick Burns b. 1987, Cleveland, OH Bio I like to explore themes that are unique to the American experience in my work. By merging the iconography of the US flag and the headlines from major events of our past, I can express a more personal understanding of what it means to be an American and the journey that has shaped our country. West Virginia Raised. Maine Educated. Colby College Exhibitions 2015 SOFA Chicago 2015, Ann Nathan Gallery, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL American Experience, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, June 2015 2014 (e)merge Art Fair, Capitol Skyline Hotel, Washington, DC. Amstel...
Resin, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Panel, Newsprint, Polymer
$1,300
H 11 in W 14 in
By The Museum, Signed Contemporary Silver Gelatin Print by Tod Papageorge
Located in Long Island City, NY
By The Museum is a gelatin silver print from On the Acropolis, a portfolio of 25 photographs by Tod Papageorge made on the Athenian Acropolis in the summers of 1983 and 1984. The ima...
Silver Gelatin
$1,200
H 11 in W 14 in
Group by Propylaea, Signed Contemporary Silver Gelatin Print by Tod Papageorge
Located in Long Island City, NY
Group by Propylaea is a gelatin silver print from On the Acropolis, a portfolio of 25 photographs by Tod Papageorge made on the Athenian Acropolis in the summers of 1983 and 1984. Th...
Silver Gelatin
$2,207
H 12.97 in W 32 in D 0.02 in
Je t'aime - Signed limited edition fine art print, Romantic Black white photo
Located in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona
Je t'aime - I Love you - Limited edition archival pigment print , Edition 4 of 15 Custom size possible Handwritten on a Parisian pavement, Paris, France. Landscape format. This p...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Black and White, Giclée, Pigment, Ar...
$200
H 5.67 in W 4.13 in D 0.01 in
Barges on the Seine River near Paris, Silver Gelatin B and W Photography, 1926
By Press Photo
Located in Atlanta, GA
A unique, original silver gelatin black and white photograph. Charenton le Pont, an eastern suburb of Paris, France, June 1926. A view of the canal with its barge boats in Charenton...
Silver Gelatin
$5,693
H 15.75 in W 11.82 in
Lorraine - Willy Ronis, 20th Century, French Humanist Photography
By Willy Ronis
Located in Paris, FR
One of the famous members of the Humanist photography in France. Signed lower right. Stamp of the artist's studio on the back.
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Knee Reflections, Mill Pond, Caddo Lake, Texas
Located in Dallas, TX
"I like to go back to a place. Seasons change. Light, which is theater, changes. Nature is tumultuous, and our contact with it makes life happen.” - David H. Gibson David H. Gibso...
Silver Gelatin
$1,859
H 23.63 in W 23.63 in
Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida Fine Art B&W Coastal Photo Print with Palms
Located in Vienna, Vienna
Archival pigment ink print, produced in a limited edition of 9 // Gallery ID: 11747 Fine art prints are produced to order on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta. Each print is stamped on the...
Archival Pigment
Cats and Kettles
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Beautiful c.1920s photograph by American artist, Jonathan Pardoe. Silver gelatin print measures 13.75 x 11; 20.25 x 16.5 inches framed. A few bumps ...
Silver Gelatin
Coastal Inlet
Located in Soquel, CA
Coastal inlet by Jim Deike? (American, 20th Century). Unframed. Illegibly signed lower right. Photograph: 10.25"H x 13"W. 16"H x 20"W.
Cardboard, Silver Gelatin, Photographic Paper
Foggy Harbor, Santa Cruz
Located in Soquel, CA
"Foggy Harbor", a black and white photograph on Fujicolor professional paper of the Santa Cruz Harbor, by Richard F. Singer (American, 20th Century). Signed "Richard Singer" and date...
Photographic Paper