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.
Find a collection of authentic Impressionist art on 1stDibs.
1880s Impressionist Art
Oil, Postcard
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Gouache, Paper
Artist Comments
Tangerines rest on a cobalt blue table, their warm, vibrant tones contrasting against the cool background. Bold brushstrokes add energy, making the fruit appear...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
1870s Impressionist Art
Oil
1910s Impressionist Art
Drypoint
Late 20th Century Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil, Panel
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
1910s Impressionist Art
Oil, Board
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil Pastel
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
1930s Impressionist Art
Linen, Oil
1920s Impressionist Art
Oil
1990s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil, Canvas
Late 20th Century Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Art
Paper, Lithograph
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
Artist Sherri Aldawood captures a peaceful moment from her trip to Marbella, Spain. Sunlight fills a narrow alleyway, adorned with vibrant flowers and lush pl...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
Late 18th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Color
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
1990s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Artist Comments
A figure, viewed from above, confronts an overwhelming mass of books, echoing the anxieties about the saturation of information in contemporary society. The sce...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
Early 20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
1960s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Panel
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Canvas, Stretcher Bars
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Acrylic
1930s Impressionist Art
Oil
Late 20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Art
Plaster, Wood
20th Century Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
Late 19th Century Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil



