Impressionist paintings remain perpetually popular with both seasoned art collectors and casual art appreciators alike. If you’re an admirer of the works of Monet, Renoir, or Morisot, you’re sure to find works you’ll love within our vast selection of impressionist paintings for sale. Many believe Impressionist paintings are so popular due to their dreamlike imagery and typically bright color palette which have wide emotional appeal. Furthermore, many contemporary artists from around the world continue to take inspiration from the masterworks of 19th Century French Impressionist painting.
Claude Monet is one of the most well known Impressionist painters. HIs “Impression, Sunrise” (1874) lends its name to the movement, and his infamous “Water Lilies” series, which depicts his garden at Giverny, is composed of about 250 works. Edgar Degas focused on people as his subjects, often painting ballet dances, female bathers, and women in the city. A few of his famous works include “The Star” (1876-1877), “Blue Dancers” (1899), and “Place de la Concorde” (1875). Pierre-Auguste Renoir also emphasized a life of leisure in works like “Le Moulin de la Galette” (1876) and “Luncheon of the Boating Party” (1881). Other artists known for their Impressionist paintings include Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley, Armand Guillaumin, Gustave Caillebotte, Mary Cassatt, and Paul Cezanne.
Impressionism emerged in Paris during the late 19th century, when a group of artists including Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley, formed the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers. These artists were tired of being rejected from Salon shows, which placed value on traditional realistic styles and historical and religious subjects. French Impressionist paintings, on the other hand, were known for their rapid brushstrokes, vivid colors, and emphasis on landscapes and scenes from modern and contemporary life. The group was unofficially named by an art critic, who disapproved of Monet’s painting “Impression, Sunrise” on the grounds that it was merely an impression of scene rather than a finished painting. The Impressionists often worked outdoors and played with varying brushstrokes and color to capture fleeting moments, be it of newly industrialized city life, leisurely countrysides, or nightlife. Artists today continue to create impressionism paintings and are drawn to their spontaneous aura.
To create impressionist paintings, artists played with color, shading, and brushstroke density. Artists used pure, unblended colors and short, rapid brushstrokes. When these works are viewed up close, they appear abstract and ambiguous; the composition only reveals itself when viewed from afar. Painters who worked outdoors were especially interested in capturing the passage of time in one scene, by combining colors to indicate moving shadows, for example. Impressionists were also influenced by Japanese prints and used a flat perspective in their works. They also included fragmented subjects and were drawn to scenes of modern, city life. Contemporary artists who create in this style carry on with the traditional flurry of colors and strokes.
