Impressionism was a significant artistic movement developed in France during the late nineteenth century that utilized visible brushstrokes, representations of natural light, and everyday scenes. Challenging traditional ideas of art, the movement was initially derided by critics, but proved hugely influential. Its leading artists included Éduouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Paul Cézanne. Henri Matisse was a full generation younger than the impressionists, and was highly influenced by them, but helped develop modern art in the early twentieth century.

This painting, an 1899 self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh, stands firmly in the tradition of post-impressionism. Post-impressionists took many of the elements of the Impressionists of a generation earlier, including visible brushstrokes, emotional concerns, and everyday scenes, and pushed them further. As seen in this work, the paint is extremely thick and textured, with bright, almost unrealistic colors sharpening the image.

The Hudson River School was a group of painters in the early part of the nineteenth century who gathered in communities along the Hudson River in New York. These artists were heavily inspired by the romantic movement coming out of Europe and painted dramatic landscapes. Prominent members of the Hudson River School were Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, and Frederic Edwin Church.

Jacques-Louis David first made a name for himself as a historical painter in the 1780s, but his republican sympathies meant he was allied with French revolutionaries. This benefitted him most by allowing him to become the Emperor Napoleon's official court painter. Famous for his portraits of Napoleon, and particularly his large Coronation of Napoleon from 1806, David's style featured bold expressions, bright colors, and dramatic poses.

The work of Matthew Brady during the American Civil War pioneered many notable aspects of photography, which was still a new medium and had mostly been devoted to portraiture. Brady's willingness to document the Civil War by going to battlefields reframed the possibilities for photography, notably allowing for the development of photojournalism.

John James Audubon was a Frenchman who came to America in 1803 to avoid the Napoleonic Wars. He made a name for himself in the early nineteenth century as a painter of wildlife and landscapes of the then vast American frontier. His The Birds of America, published in sections between 1827 and 1838, not only was a remarkable work of art by an American artist, but helped ornithology immensely in understanding avian wildlife in America.

Impressionism grew popular in the nineteenth century as a reaction to France's main artistic competition, the Salon de Paris. The Salon's judges valued grand themes, realistic portrayals, and fine brushwork, whereas the Impressionists focused on everyday scenes, emotional depictions, and visible, thick brushstrokes. Some of the major impressionists include Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet.

Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, and Joan Miró were all connected as artists through their use of color and experimentation with forms. Nonetheless, each artist developed his own unique style that largely stood apart from other artists. Van Gogh's postimpressionistic style built on impressionism, while Matisse and Miro's deconstruction of form and representation exploded many of impressionism's notions of art.

Frederic Remington was a native New Yorker who began his career as a painter and illustrator for magazines after the Civil War. After going on assignment to illustrate a magazine article on the Apache leader Geronimo in 1886, Remington began to paint and sculpt images of the American West exclusively. Remington's style was naturalistic and empathetic to his subjects, and also had a natural ability to capture accurate movement. Remington's images of the Old West are some of the most famous images of cowboys and Native Americans.

Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was a French painter who reacted to the previous generation's bold romanticism and his contemporary critics' love of history painting by developing what he termed "realism." Courbet wished to use his painting to comment on social issues and values, which he felt were valuable topics on which a painter might focus. Courbet sought out landscapes, portraits, and still lifes that depicted the everyday in rough, honest brushstrokes.