Many famous artists have made their reputation on beautiful landscape art.
Environmental art frequently falls under the category of landscape paintings. Such work centers around the natural world and emphasizes a panoramic, harmonic point of view. The quality of detail is not essential for landscape, as many famous works eschew specific points in favor of a more sweeping interpretation.
The Water Lilies
Claude Monet's series of paintings focused on water lilies is one of the 20th century's most celebrated productions of art. Late in life, Monet moved to Giverny, a small town located in the country near Paris, France. He ordered that a pond be dug near his abode there, and the famed lilies were planted in 1893. He artwork on the lilies demonstrated a newly found boldness and playfulness; some critics believe that the pieces suggested abstract art.
Mount Saint-Victoire
Mount Saint-Victoire, a peak in the southern French town of Aix-en-Provence, fascinated Paul Cezanne throughout his lifetime. Toward the end of his life (between 1902 and 1906), he created a series of paintings themed on the mountain that revealed new flourishes in his technique. The works exhibit blocked patches of paint in which the colors stood out as discontinuous and isolated from one another. He captured the Mount and the surrounding countryside with pastels, both vibrant and muted, in a way that presaged the Cubism movement.
The Slave Ship
One of British artist Joseph Mallord William Turner's most famed landscape compositions is "The Slave Ship," completed in 1840. The work, which flaunts an epic scale, dramatizes the perils of the Middle Passage, an oceanic route of the slave trade that transported African captives to the Americas. As a large ship sinks, slaves flounder about to avoid drowning. Turner allegedly created the work to reveal his viewpoint on abolitionism, the movement that aimed to eliminate slavery from society.
Along the River During the Qinming Festival
Zhong Zeduan created this landscape during China's Song Dynasty period. Zeduan attractively features the festival's participants as they meander throughout the warm setting. Painted in the hand scroll format, "Along the River" also stands out for its capturing of each social stratum, from the richest citizens to the impoverished residents. Zeduan's work directly influenced Chinese landscapes well after the Song Dynasty, and celebrated artists of each era would attempt to replicate the painting via their unique interpretation.
