Impressionists at Home: Monet, Renoir and Pissarro for Every Room

In 1874 a group of painters who had been refused by the official Paris Salon hired a photographer's studio and hung their own show. A critic mocked one of the canvases, Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise, and the name stuck. A century and a half later, Impressionism is the most loved painting movement in the world, and for good reason: it is about light, weather, gardens, rivers and ordinary afternoons. It is art about the pleasure of looking.

That makes it unusually easy to live with. Here is how to choose Impressionist pieces for different rooms, how to build colour harmony around them, and why canvas is the right surface for brushwork like this.

Monet, Renoir, Pissarro: three temperaments

The movement had many members, but three painters cover most of what people want on their walls, and their work is long out of copyright, so it can be reproduced faithfully.

Claude Monet (1840 to 1926) is light and water. His series of water lilies, haystacks, poplars and the facade of Rouen Cathedral show the same subject at different hours, which is exactly the point: the subject is the light, not the thing. His palette moves from the cool lavenders and greens of the Giverny garden to the warm pinks of Venice and the fog of London. Monet is the safest first choice, and our Monet collection gathers the works that translate best to canvas.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 to 1919) is people and warmth. Dances, luncheons, children, women in dappled sunlight. His colours lean to rose, peach and golden yellow, and his brushwork is softer and rounder than Monet's. Renoir suits rooms meant for company: dining rooms, kitchens, hallways where you greet guests.

Camille Pissarro (1830 to 1903) is the quiet one, the painter the others called a father figure. Country lanes, orchards, Paris boulevards seen from above in rain. His tones are earthier, with greens, greys and ochres, and his compositions are calm and structured. Pissarro is for studies, bedrooms and anyone who finds Monet a little sweet.

Alfred Sisley's river scenes and Berthe Morisot's domestic interiors round out the group, both equally in the public domain and equally at home on a modern wall.

Why Impressionism belongs on canvas

These paintings were made on canvas, with visible, broken brushstrokes that catch the light. A reproduction behind glass flattens that; the reflection competes with the texture. Printed with pigment inks on a 380 gsm woven canvas, the weave itself echoes the original surface and the matte finish lets you see the brushwork from any angle. For painterly work, this is the closest a reproduction gets to standing in front of the real thing.

Scale matters too. Monet's late water lilies were enormous, meant to surround the viewer. A 90×150 cm (36"×59") canvas does not match that, but it comes closer to the intended immersion than any poster can.

Room by room

• Living room. One large landscape above the sofa: a Monet poplar or haystack series in 80×110 cm (32"×43") landscape, or water lilies in 90×150 cm for a long wall. Keep the rest of the wall empty.
• Bedroom. Cooler, calmer palettes. Monet's morning scenes on the Seine, Pissarro's misty orchards or Sisley's rivers in 60×90 cm (24"×36") above the bed. Avoid Renoir's busiest crowd scenes here; they are wonderful but not restful.
• Dining room and kitchen. Renoir's luncheons and garden parties, or Monet's poppy fields. Warm tones flatter food and faces under evening light. A 50×75 cm (20"×30") piece or a pair of 40×60 cm (16"×24") works between a sideboard and the ceiling. Our kitchen and dining collection is a good place to start.
• Hallway and stairs. Pissarro's Paris boulevards, with their strong perspective, suit the long view down a corridor. Three portrait pieces in 30×45 cm (12"×18") climbing a staircase work especially well.
• Home office. Something with structure and horizon: Monet's cliffs at Etretat, Pissarro's fields. Landscape orientation at 60×90 cm behind the desk, where video calls will show it.

Building colour harmony around the painting

Impressionist paintings are full of colour, which can be intimidating in a neutral room. The method is simple: let the painting choose two colours for the room, no more.

1. Find the dominant tone. In most Monets it is a green or a blue-violet; in Renoir, a warm rose or gold; in Pissarro, a grey-green.
2. Find the accent. The small, bright note: the orange sun in Impression, Sunrise; the red poppies; a blue ribbon in a Renoir.
3. Echo the dominant in large soft items. A rug, a throw, curtains. Not an exact match, just the same family.
4. Echo the accent in one or two small objects. A cushion, a vase, a book spine. Then stop.
5. Keep the walls quiet. White, warm white or soft grey. A deep green wall behind a Monet garden can be extraordinary, but it is an advanced move.

Two Impressionist pieces in the same room should share a palette, not a subject. A cool Monet and a cool Sisley sit together; a cool Monet and a warm Renoir pull in different directions unless there is distance between them.

Frames and finishing

Originally these paintings were shown in heavy gilded frames, and a gold frame still suits a single Renoir or Monet in a traditional room. For modern homes, though, we recommend the opposite approach: a slim floating frame that lets the brushwork run to the edge.

• Oak for the green and blue Monets and for Pissarro. The warm wood sits naturally against foliage and water.
• White for pale, airy scenes in bedrooms and coastal rooms; the frame nearly disappears.
• Walnut for Renoir's warm interiors and dining room pieces. It deepens the rose and gold tones.
• Black sparingly, for the darker Monets such as the London fog series, where it adds drama.

A gallery wrap, with the image continuing around the edges and no frame at all, is also a strong option for the very large water lily pieces, where any frame starts to feel like a boundary on something that was meant to feel limitless.

Where to begin

If you are new to the movement, start with one Monet in the room where you spend the most daylight hours, size it to the wall rather than the furniture, and frame it in oak. Live with it for a month, then let its palette guide the next piece. Our famous artist prints bring together Monet, Renoir, Pissarro and their contemporaries, each one printed and stretched to order in our workshop and delivered with free tracked shipping.