At the time the French Impressionists visited London, between 1857 and 1904, it was the largest and wealthiest city on earth. The seething activity of that powerful metropolis proved to be an especially heady source of inspiration to the visitors, who painted more scenes of London than of any other city outside Parts.

To escape the turmoil in Pads during 1870-71, a few of the French Impressionists — most notably Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro — fled to London. where they produced some of their most appealing works. Monet later returned to London, and the series of city views he painted in the course of his two prolonged visits constitute a particularly engaging aspect of his oeuvre, which later greatly influenced some of Andre Derain's best work. also in London. The young van Gogh spent the happiest year of his life in London, where he discovered work by British artists that profoundly shaped the course of his career.

Other Impressionist-era artists of note who painted memorable images of the city included the visitors Alfred Sisley and Giuseppe de Nittis; the expatriates James McNeill Whistler, James Tissot, and John Singer Sargent; and the British artists Walter Sickert, Philip Wilson Steer, and Spencer Gore.