Plein air painting, study
Plein air painting is a process of painting outdoors in order to reproduce the subject matter of a painting in its natural light and air environment. The term "study" is directly related to the plein air painting: study is a piece of art done in preparation for a finished piece. A study is usually drawn from nature.
History
Early in the 19th century an English
painter John Constable created his landscape studies from nature, aiming at
catching and depicting weather and atmosphere changes in his work, but paintings
themselves were created in his workshop. In the middle of the 19th century
plein air painting became popular among landscape-painters
of Barbizon school and English Impressionists, who tried to reflect the current
state of nature in their works. As a matter of convenience, they created quite
small paintings, that could be created within 2-3 sessions and, if necessary,
finished in a workshop. Thanks to French Impressionists, C. Monet, C. Pissarro,
O. Renoir and other artist who painted only from nature trying to chase the transience
of nature in certain light, plein air painting got its new lease of life. They
practiced a new non-ordinal technique of translating highlights, shades and reflected
lights by using a combination of warm and cool colors. Their art was
much-critised by the public of that time. Claude Monet did a great contribution
to the development of plein air painting. When creating the Poplar series of
paintings in 1891, Monet had to compete with nature itself. The artist was
creating his paintings on a few easels on the bank of the Epte River, running
from one to another trying to chase colors of nature, that were constantly
changing depending on time and weather. Since the end of the 19th
century and up to nowadays plein air painting plays an important role in the
art studies. Nowadays plein air painting still remains popular among
landscape-artists. Get an overview on contemporary plein air landscapes and
even buy the one you like you can in our online catalogue. An interesting fact is
that only since the advent of plein air painting paints has begun to be
produced in tubes – before that artists had to prepare their paints in
workshops.