Impressionist & Modern Drawings

While many typically associate Impressionist and Modern art foremost with painting, there are excellent examples of drawing from these genres. From Gustave Courbet and Edouard Manet to Jackson Pollock and Phillip Guston, virtually all of the artists who are most well known for their paintings also made world-class works on paper using charcoal, pastel, or pencil. Some of the drawings by Impressionist masters were created as preparatory sketches before they painted larger scale works in oil, while others were intended to stand on their own.

Many Impressionist drawings exhibit signature styles of artists and classic iconography translated into drawing. Numerous Edgar Degas ballet dancer sketches express the same delicacy and vigor as his better known paintings and sculptures. Similarly, Manet drawings and Renoir drawings display the fluidity and expressiveness of their paintings.

Whether by Impressionist or Modern artists, these drawings offer elucidating insights into the careers, overarching artistic strategies, and concerns of the artists in a medium outside of those they are most well known for. Drawings are a terrific way to own the work of a blue-chip artist at a price point that is likely far more accessible than that of a painting or sculpture.

Quick Facts

• In addition to painting haystacks, Claude Monet made numerous drawings of these iconic pastoral images
• Drawings by Jackson Pollock convey the artist’s abiding interest in the cosmic and the ethereal
• The origins of the many of the famous works by Impressionist masters, such as Courbet and Manet, appear in their sketches and provide fascinating windows into their creative process