10 Women Impressionists You Must Know

1. Mary Fairchild MacMonnies Low

Mary Fairchild MacMonnies Low was a talented and respected artist both in the United States and in Europe. Born in 1858 in New Haven, Connecticut, Fairchild studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts. In 1885, she earned a three-year scholarship to study in Paris, where she enrolled at the Académie Julian and trained under Carolus-Duran. Soon after her arrival, Fairchild began showcasing her work at the Salon des Artistes Français and established a strong presence in Parisian circles. In 1901, she was elected as the president of the American Woman’s Art Association and later became an associate of the National Academy of Design. She went on to win various awards and accolades throughout her extensive career. Fairchild kept a studio in the heart of Montparnasse, where she painted depictions of daily life featuring women and children.

2. Helen McNicoll

One of Canada’s leading Impressionist painters, Helen McNicoll reached the top of her profession and garnered international renown for her luminous compositions. Born in Toronto 1879, she was instrumental in bringing Canadian Impressionism beyond North American confines. Deaf from the age of two after contracting scarlet fever, McNicoll began her formal training at the Art Association of Montreal, after which she moved to Europe and enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art in London—one of the first to offer women equal opportunities as its male students. Elected as an associate member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1913 and to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1914, McNicoll was also a member of the Society of Women Artists in London, where she maintained a studio until her untimely death at the age of thirty-five.

3. Anna Ancher

A notable figure of Danish Impressionism, Anna Ancher was a member of the Skagen Painters, a group of artists working in Northern Denmark. As a woman, Ancher was barred from enrolling at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, but she went on to train alongside notable artists in private art schools. Ancher was especially interested in the delicate interplay of color and light and was influenced by the Impressionist works she encountered during visits to Paris in 1885 and 1888. Known for her small-scale domestic interiors, Ancher exhibited at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and was awarded the Ingenio et arti medal in 1913. According to Skagens Museum curator Mette Bøgh Jensen, “if you ask Danes to name a woman artist, they will say Anna Ancher.”¹

4. Amy Katherine Browning

Born in 1881, Amy Katherine Browning was both an artist and activist. In 1899, she entered the Royal College of Art, where she earned a diploma in teaching art. It was there that she first met Sylvia Pankhurst, a lifelong friend and suffragette with whom she mounted the Women’s Exhibition of 1909. While most of her works feature bucolic landscape scenes, Browning was also interested in portraying the working people, exemplified by a series of paintings depicting factory life in the hat-making industry. Browning created illustrations for the feminist newspaper, The Woman’s Dreadnought, founded in 1914, and was the first woman to be elected to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Her works reveal a poignant rhythm of color and light.

5. Dorothea Sharp

Best known for her evocative landscapes, Dorothea Sharp was a leading figure of Impressionism in England. The eldest of five children, Sharp enrolled at the Richmond School of Landscape Painting in 1894, choosing to pursue oils when most women were painting in watercolor. She subsequently enrolled in the Regent Street Polytechnic—now the University of Westminster—where she was influenced by Sir George Clausen. In 1900, Sharp moved to Paris, where she studied at the Académie Colarossi in Montparnasse. Following her return to London, Sharp was involved in the Society of Women Artists, becoming a full member in 1908 and a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy.

6. Berthe Morisot

We would be remiss not to mention the only female founding member of the Impressionist movement. Of the six Impressionist painters who exhibited their work in 1874 in Paris for the very first time, five were men—the sixth was Berthe Morisot. Morisot participated in all but one of the eight Impressionist exhibitions, missing the event in 1879, after having given birth to her daughter. In 1892, Berthe held her first one-woman show at the Boussod & Valadon Gallery in Paris. An essential figure in the history of women painters, Morisot brought a uniquely feminine perspective to a band of all men. Described by art critic Paul Mantz as the “one true Impressionist in the whole revolutionary group,” her paintings endure as staples of the Impressionist canon.

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7. Lilla Cabot Perry

Born in 1848, Lilla Cabot Perry played a key role in introducing Impressionism to the United States and Japan. An accomplished poet and translator, Perry taught English literature at Keio University in Japan and often traveled throughout the country to sketch and paint. While she was not formally trained until her thirties, the Boston-born artist reached the top of her profession by studying the old masters and attending the Académie Julian in Paris. A prolific painter, Perry spent nine summers in Giverny, near Monet’s home, where she received his mentorship for her plein air paintings. A retrospective exhibition in 1969 at the Hirschl and Adler Galleries helped lift her out of obscurity and place her back into the spotlight.

8. Louise Breslau

Louise Catherine Breslau was a German-born Swiss painter who spent hours drawing as a child while bedridden from chronic asthma. Born in 1856, Breslau studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, where she established herself as a gifted portrait artist. In 1879, she was the only woman student from the academy to debut at the Paris Salon, after which she began receiving numerous commissions from wealthy Parisians. Alongside the likes of Edgar Degas and Anatole France, Breslau was known by name throughout Paris. Rendered in loose brushstrokes, her paintings have an unabashedly feminine quality. Following her death in 1928, Breslau was honored by the École des Beaux-Arts with a retrospective exhibition.

9. Gertrude Fiske

Known for her depictions of women in interiors rendered in a rich, earthly color palette, Gertrude Fiske was born in 1879. A member of the Boston School of Painters, she became a founding member of the Guild of Boston Artists in 1914, and the only woman named to the Massachusetts State Art commission. Fiske implemented the advice of her mentor, Charles H. Woodbury, to “paint in verbs, not in nouns,” placing the experience of women at the heart of her work. Fiske received numerous awards and accolades, and her oeuvre was celebrated in multiple solo shows throughout her career as well as after her death.

10. Eva Gonzalès

Born in 1849, Eva Gonzalès was surrounded by Parisian elite and literature from a young age as her father was the founding president of the celebrated writers’ association, Société des Gens des Lettres. Gonzalès was the model and student of Édouard Manet, whose influence is evident in her use of color and bold brushwork. Like Manet, she never exhibited in the Impressionist exhibitions, though her paintings reveal an affinity for the Impressionist techniques. Her compositions, many of which feature the artist’s sister, reveal the rich inner worlds of women, who at the time were largely relegated to domestic life. Gonzalès was a recurrent exhibiter at the Paris Salon and is now regarded as one of the most important painters of her day.