# Theodore Robinson artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/theodore-robinson/
Profile generated: 2026-05-23T15:06:35.573Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1852-06-03
- Death date: 1896-04-02
- Nationality: American
- Movements: American Impressionism, Impressionism
- Common media: oil painting, watercolor, photography

## About Theodore Robinson

Theodore Robinson (1852–1896) was an American painter recognized as one of the earliest and most important figures in American Impressionism. Born in Irasburg, Vermont, Robinson studied art in the United States and abroad before making repeated visits to Giverny, France, where he formed a close working friendship with Claude Monet during the late 1880s and early 1890s. This connection made Robinson a key conduit between French Impressionist practice and American collectors and artists. His landscapes and figure compositions from this period are widely regarded as masterworks of American Impressionism. Robinson also worked in watercolor and photography. His career was cut short when he died of asthma in New York City at the age of 43. Despite his abbreviated output, his influence on the course of American painting was lasting, and his works are held by major museums in the United States and Europe.

## Common works and media

Robinson's auction and museum records include oil-on-canvas landscapes depicting Giverny and rural Connecticut, figure compositions set outdoors, village street scenes, and occasional watercolors and works on paper. His Giverny-period canvases showing agricultural settings, riverside views, and women in garden or field environments are among the most frequently encountered subjects at auction.

## Market and appraisal context

Theodore Robinson's relatively small body of work, due to his early death at 43, means that examples appearing at auction attract attention from collectors of American Impressionism. Oil paintings from his Giverny period, where Monet's direct influence is most visible, tend to be the most sought-after lots. Provenance, condition, and secure attribution are critical valuation factors. Collectors should note that the absence of a widely available single-author catalogue raisonné makes expert verification especially important for any prospective acquisition or appraisal.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum archives, library authority files, and scholarly sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For Theodore Robinson, information is drawn from Getty ULAN, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, Wikidata, and Wikipedia, supplemented by auction-market signals.

## Sources

- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/67431
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1384543
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/54312829/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500004025
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Robinson