Impressionist Art
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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Early 1900s Impressionist Art
Etching
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Board
1920s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil, Fiberboard
2010s Impressionist Art
Paper, Acrylic
1970s Impressionist Art
Lithograph
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
1930s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Screen
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
1920s Impressionist Art
Paper, Ink
Artist Comments
Artist Benjamin Thomas depicts a luminous sky with tonal hues of grey with soft purple accents. Finally, he paints his favorite color in a sky painting. "My d...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Wood, Wood Panel
1930s Impressionist Art
Oil, Board
1920s Impressionist Art
Oil, Board
Artist Comments
Artist Onelio Marrero depicts two carefree children playing in the surf. Part of a series of summer paintings that explores the joyful spirit of youth. His ex...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
1890s Impressionist Art
Oil, Panel
1890s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
1960s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Three sisters sit closely together on a couch, their fashion evoking the feeling of vintage Hollywood style. A black furry dog sits on the floor and enjoys th...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Acrylic
Early 1900s Impressionist Art
Etching
Early 1900s Impressionist Art
Cotton Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Art
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 Art
Oil
1930s Impressionist Art
Oil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
1950s Impressionist Art
Oil, Canvas, Board
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Cotton Canvas, Panel
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil, Board
1880s Impressionist Art
Oil, Postcard
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
1850s Impressionist Art
Oil, Panel
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
1950s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
1920s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil, Canvas
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil, Board
Artist Comments
Capturing the vast beauty of nature, this painting showcases endless fields gently rising and falling beneath an expansive sky. Lush, undulating meadows, golden...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Art
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Linen, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
1880s Impressionist Art
Illustration Board, Gouache
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Board
1940s Impressionist Art
Engraving
1980s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
1990s Impressionist Art
Paper, Giclée
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
1910s Impressionist Art
Graphite