Springtime

The end of March inaugurates the beginning of the beautiful days: spring is back! The days are getting longer as we finally switch to summer time. The weather is improving as rainy days give way to those March downpours, interspersed by the sunny days that breathe the flora and fauna back to life. As the first buds begin to sprout, the spring air breezes through and the first lambs are born, all of nature is in tune with this spring revival. Even if each of the four seasons has its own charm, winter, summer and autumn have nothing on spring.

Indeed, the seasons have always been a source of inspiration for artists. In the middle of the 15th century, during the Italian Renaissance, Sandro Botticelli had already represented spring. Later, Monet and the Impressionists illustrated the effervescence of spring, while Paul Cézanne adorned the walls of his parents' house in Jas de Bouffan with a four seasons themed décor. Among the four panels of this work, one represents spring. Thanks to this very work, Paul Cézanne was able to convince his father to allow him to go to Paris to study art. 

In the 1950s, Picasso painted his version of spring. The work features a goat and its master in a bucolic landscape. Salvador Dali's painting "The First Days of Spring" similarly depicts lovers on a park bench, a woman hanging laundry (could this be the forerunner of spring cleaning?), a rooster crowing, a clock marking the passage of time, and perhaps even summer time. 

Spring also arouses the excitement of Japanese artists who live to the rhythm of the cherry tree buds ready to blossom, feverishly watching the weather report as it announces the blossoming of the trees and the launch of the new season. Among them, Katsushika Hokusai depicted a cherry tree branch beginning to bloom with a bird perched on it ("Bullfinch and Weeping Cherry", 1834). 

Contemporary art is also rich in representations of the spring season. Inspired by the great masters of art history, Artsper offers you a selection of young contemporary artists and recognized talents who reproduce or reinvent this seasonal renewal. It is through painting, drawing and photography that artists really celebrate the budding of flowers and the richness of nature.