Landscape

The Earth and nature are, and always have been, an immeasurable source of inspiration. This is particularly true of our most immediate surroundings. Every artist feels an attachment to their homeland, which they strive to depict by way of photographing, drawing, or painting the natural riches and the typical scenery of their environment. Art History demonstrates a range of approaches to landscapes across the centuries and the various artistic movements that spanned them.

Landscapes and nature are also recurrent religious themes: flora and fauna have special symbolism in Christianity. Landscapes take on many forms: realist, narrative, symbolic, idealist… each time, the artist is portraying his own relationship with nature. Some of the biggest masterpieces in painting are landscapes, it's impossible not to mention Van Gogh's Starry Night, Cézanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire, Money's Sunrise, Giorgione's The Tempest. Almost all painters have dabbled in landscapes at some point, in forests, mountains, oceans, towns… the term itself holds an infinite number of possibilities.

Nature also provides a source of inspiration in the multitude of different visual and approaches available under the sensitive eye of the artist. Colours and landscapes are rich and varied, an infinite plurality. Nature is also a major theme in philosophy, in which the search for the truth – and knowing whether reality itself is truth – is at the heart of the work of all philosophers. Similarly, the theme of nature traverses the ages and artistic movements, inspiring every artist. The landscape links the artist to their past and their childhood, and their individual style then gives them free reign over their personal interpretation and representation of these lasting impressions.

A bewitching evening light, a hay stack, a sunflower field, or the flowing of a river, these are the moments familiar to all of us that artists continually choose to represent.

Nowadays in Contemporary Art, the landscape itself has become the medium. Land Art is a movement which utilises nature as materials, and which has vaulted the barriers of the traditional art market to create works in the outdoors which are only accessibly in their environment. Land Art ties together the visual and the sensorial experiences, bringing the art to life in all its dimensions.

You can find a range of works depicting urban landscapes, mountains, sunrises, the rural French countryside and beyond, beautiful photos of our natural heritage, volcanoes, waterfalls, and so much more, on Artsper.