Start here: Impressionists on Paper
Published on 5 October 2023
Find out more about the ways Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists worked on paper ahead of our latest exhibition.
Drawing and painting
In 19th-century France, working on paper was mainly seen as a means to an end – a tool used to prepare for finished paintings.
The Impressionists changed that. They created works on paper – using pencil, pastels, watercolours and more – which were independent works of art in their own right, and they displayed these works in their exhibitions.
This exhibition brings together a wide range of those works on paper to show how Impressionist and Post-Impressionist drawings became as significant as their paintings.
The Impressionists
Sunsets in Normandy, Parisian street scenes, or waterlilies in Giverny – the works of the Impressionists’ are instantly recognisable. They often worked outdoors en plein air, in the city or in the countryside. They sketched, drew and painted scenes from everyday life with a quick, loose touch, vivid colour, daring viewpoints and a deliberate lack of finish.
Meet the artists:
Dancer Yawning (Dancer Stretching), 1873
Edgar Degas loved working on brightly coloured paper. Here he uses a series of simple marks to capture a candid scene of a dancer stretching. Degas is known for his pastel drawings of ballet dancers, several of which are featured in the exhibition
Portrait of Isabelle Lambert, 1885
Isabelle Lambert is a young girl whom Morisot painted on several occasions. She gazes into the distance, lost in thought. With much of the paper margins left empty, Morisot has created an intimate portrait of her sitter with energetic, loose strokes of pastel
The Fortifications of Paris with Houses, 1887
Vincent Van Gogh was largely self-taught and believed that drawing was “the root of everything”. Here he combines graphite, black chalk, watercolour and gouache. This is a confident work which shows how he embraced colour after discovering Impressionism during the two years he spent in Paris in 1886–88
Two Friends, 1895
This work has been painted on cardboard, which Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec has intentionally left exposed in places to create a more abstract background. The two figures have been depicted with careful characterisation in gouache. The intimacy, anticipation and tenderness between the women has led many to believe them to be a couple
Working on paper
By working on paper, the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists made work that wouldn’t have been possible using oil on canvas.
They captured a fleeting moment with a few pencil strokes, combined watercolour paints with charcoal sketches to create new effects and worked in pastels to render the effects of light on Normandy cliffs.
New developments, new techniques
The 19th century brought innovation to the production of artists' materials.
Scientific and technological advancements meant a wider variety of media could be produced at a lower cost, including fabricated chalks and machine-made paper. The development of new dyes meant that pastels, watercolours and inks were now available in new vibrant colours. And the invention of metal paint tubes meant that materials were now easier to transport.
These developments created opportunities for the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists to work in new ways.
Artists’ materials
You’ll find a broad range of materials in Impressionists on Paper.
Some, such as pastel and watercolour, might be more familiar than other, lesser-known media such as essence (a kind of dissolved oil paint) and Conté crayon (a type of hard, square stick traditionally made from powdered graphite, black pigment and clay).
Works on paper can be fragile and often aren’t on public display in museums and art galleries. This exhibition is an opportunity to see masterpieces by more than 20 of the most significant Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, brought together to tell the story of a versatile, underappreciated medium. See it for yourself, book now.
Impressionists on Paper
Degas, Morisot, Renoir, Van Gogh You might recognise their paintings, but it’s their radical works on paper we put the spotlight on in this ground-breaking exhibition.
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