Impressionists on Paper – Royal Academy, UK

In the whirl of modernity that was late 19th-century France, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists radically transformed the future direction of art. But it wasn’t just through their paintings. In a subtle but seismic shift, they lifted the status of works on paper – drawings, pastels, watercolours, temperas, gouaches – from something preparatory that you left in a studio, to artworks in their own right.

In this rich exhibition, we bring together around 70 works on paper by leading Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists whose innovation would challenge traditional attitudes and ultimately pave the way for later movements like Abstract Expressionism.