Art Appreciation Blog: Post 10: Landscapes

Turner in Provence - Monet in London

The earliest examples of landscape (natural scenery) art are found in Roman Empire ruins of the Hellenistic period (323BC-30 AC). On the east side of the world, China also had a strong tradition in landscape art, with artists painting water and mountains to provide images for reflection and meditation in the 12th and 13th centuries. Landscapes were a highly regarded genre by artists and patrons from the XVI century onwards. During the 17th century in Italy, so-called "arcadia" landscapes were highly praised. Nothing to do with reality, they depicted the imaginary "paradise lost" often surrounding ancient ruins.

And then, like lightning, J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851) came to the stage and changed everything:

The Lake Petworth, Sunrise, 1827-8
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
64.8 x 125.7 cm, oil on canvas
Turner Sunrise Tate Museum

Britain and France were the two strongest colonial empires in the XIX century and their artists enjoyed social wealth by traveling, discovering, and influencing each other. They found beauty in landscapes and seascapes on the other side of La Manche but they also learned lessons from their peers on the other side. All this was possible with industrialization and increasingly frequent steamer boat traffic over the Canal.

J.M. Turner visited France many times between his first trip to Paris in 1802 and the last one in the north of France in 1845 (see sources TATE and Carnets de voyage de Turner links). Another rare pearl I found in Turner's sketchbook is that he was in the region of Provence (where I am writing this) in 1828-29 and again in 1838. He approached Avignon by boat on the Rhone and made rapid croquis of the castles he was passing by.

La Neige (Snow), 1873

Charles-Francois Daubigny (1817-1878)

100.5 x 201.5 cm, oil on canvas

Daubigny Musee d'Orsay

When talking about French landscape painting in the XIX century, it must be noted that two groups of painters, before the Impressionists, left their ateliers to sketch scenes outside (they couldn't paint outside as oil paints in tubes didn't yet exist): the Barbizon group (started in 1830) and the Normandy group (started in the 1850s). Charles-Francois Daubigny (landscape above) was attached to the famous Barbizon group.

As the Impressionist landscape paintings are innumerable, to help myself for this January post I am choosing only winter scenes, mostly inhabited.

London, 1870. A large French community is there in exile from the raging Franco-Prussian war. Some to avoid conscription, like Monet and Pissarro, and some to expand their business, like gallerist and collector Paul Durand-Ruel. He organized nine exhibitions in London presenting hundreds of, mostly Barbizon school (with its biggest stars: Millet et Corot), landscape paintings between 1870-74. The Times critic wrote: "French landscape painters, unlike the reigning English school, as a rule, paint impressions and not transcripts...Elaboration of detail is avoided."

Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, Snow, 1879
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
59.2 x 72.3 cm, oil on canvas
Pissarro Winter Art Institute Chicago

While witnessing older compatriots enjoy accolades and sell their work, our two young Impressionists are visiting the National Gallery and standing in front of powerful Turner scenes. Is it a coincidence that the two of them and Alfred Sisley, a British living in Paris but visiting London, became the most dedicated landscape painters among the Impressionists?

When Camille Pissarro came back to Paris he found that out of 1500 paintings he left, all but 40 were destroyed by soldiers during the war. Pissarro moved to Pontoise (outside of Paris) and lived there from 1872 to 1884 with his wife and their 7 children, 6 of whom became painters. His friend Cezanne spent a lot of time with him there and the two painted many Pontoise scenes, like the one above.

Rue Eugene Moissoir at Moret: Winter, 1891
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)
46.7 x 56.5 cm, oil on canvas
Sisley Winter Met Museum

Sisley was the most devoted landscape painter among the Impressionists, throughout his life, he finished around 900 paintings and 100 pastels and they were rarely of any other subject than landscape. He also stayed loyal to the original idea of finishing the painting outdoors and catching the effects of light through the air in the scene.

Boulevard Saint-Denis, Argenteuil in Winter, 1875
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
60.9 x 81.6 cm, oil on canvas
Argenteuil Monet MFA Boston

Monet lived with his family in Argenteuil from 1871 until 1878. This painting represents an everyday scene of that time, people in Argenteuil approaching the train station on a winter snowy day. Boulevard Saint-Denis was situated close to Monet’s atelier and the train station.

Here, the study of light IS the subject matter. Instead of focusing on people, buildings, fences, or trees, he conveys the truth of the moment and how all those surfaces absorb and reflect light. “The materiality of the scene is its least important feature”.(Monet p.95, Smith)

One thing by which we can always recognize an Impressionist painting is that shadows are rarely grey but usually blue, purple, or reflected colors around them. Today, this effect is called "the diffuse reflection", in their time Monet and Co didn't know about that scientific effect they just painted honestly what they saw.

Some other Monet's winter scenes:

La Pie, 1868/9
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
89 x 130 cm, oil on canvas
The Magpie Monet Orsay

Coming into Giverny in Winter, 1885
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
65 x 81 cm, oil on canvas
Giverny Monet Barberini Museum

To really enjoy the color and brush movements, you need to click on the link under the painting and explore with the zoom-in.

Sandvika, Norway, 1895
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
73.4 x 92.5 cm, oil on canvas
Monet Norway AI Chicago

While visiting Norway in 1895, Monet painted 29 landscapes during that 2-month visit. This painting was bought by Art Institute Chicago in November 2023 for $6,7 million

Why are landscapes the most loved genre of paintings to this day? As our modern days speed up, they provide an escape and bring nature into our rooms. Even when we look at the Impressionist cityscapes, they are usually with small barely recognizable human figures, in my mind, that makes us look at 'the bigger picture', and whenever we do that our troubles become smaller.

Connection to Modern Art: Nicholas de Stael and his search for the essence in a landscape. Mondrian's ultra-minimalistic landscapes reduced to a relationship between horizontals and verticals in the natural world. Landscape paintings can also send the message - Paul Nash.

Connection to contemporary art:

Winter Tunnel with Snow, March, 2006
David Hockney (1937- )
91.44 x 121.92 cm, oil on canvas
Hockney Winter DH Foundation

David Hockney, one of the most loved contemporary artists, always talks about his admiration of Impressionism. He also dedicated a vast amount of his time to the studies of light and color in nature through the changing seasons.

In other posts, find out about Impressionism and film as well as Impressionism and music

Sources:

Nationalmuseum | Arcadia – A paradise lost

18 (1). au terme de ces voyages de turner (France du sud-est et LIGURIE): les dessins des carnets | Carnets de voyage de Turner

?South of France and Italy c.1820-41 (J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours) | Tate

Art History landscapes - Search Videos

Via Christies - Norway by Monet

Page:Byvanck - Un Hollandais à Paris en 1891, 1892.djvu/195 - Wikisource Monet's letters to Pissarro on Paysages

The EY Exhibition: Impressionists in London, French Artists in Exile (1870-1904) – Press Release | Tate

Landscape painting - Wikipedia

Art History News: THE OPEN-AIR STUDIO The Impressionists in Normandy

Impressionists at Argenteuil