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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1950s Impressionist Art
Oil, Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil, Panel
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil Pastel, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Acrylic, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil, Giclée
Artist Comments
Bathed in the hush of twilight, rows of blooming lavender stretch endlessly beneath a sky brushed with fading light. Each bold, textured stroke captures the fle...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
Artist Comments
Based on artist Onelio Marrero's sketches, the scene depicts a Manhattan avenue looking south on a winter night. The brushwork captures the bustling energy of...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Impressionist Art
Metal
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
Artist Comments
A man and a cow share a quiet ride across a vibrant, sunlit landscape. The driver focuses on the road ahead while the animal stands calmly, gazing over the go...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Mixed Media
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Canvas
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Mixed Media
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Paper, Watercolor
Artist Comments
Refined elegance exudes from a bottle of Macallan Terra, a rich amber whisky poured into a tasting glass, and a finely rolled cigar. Warm tones and soft textu...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Acrylic
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Wood Panel
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Cardboard
Artist Comments
Soft morning mist drifts across a local park in Jersey City. A towering tree anchors the scene as others fade into dreamy silhouettes in the distance. Artist Br...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
Early 2000s Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Acrylic, Oil Pastel
Early 2000s Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Paper, Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
1950s Impressionist Art
Board, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Gesso, Canvas, Archival Ink, Oil, Acrylic, Stretcher Bars
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Board
Artist Comments
Artist Jeff Fleming captures a cat in its playful nature. Bathed in a soft morning light, this furry tabby frolics in a field of sweet peas, possibly chasing ...
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Printer's Ink
2010s Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil, Acrylic
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Canvas, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Art
Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Paper, Oil
2010s Impressionist Art
Metal