Winter Wonderland: 5 Most Beautiful Impressionist Winter Landscapes

1. Pierre-Auguste Renoir

How could one ever leave it out – one of the favorite winter activities? I’m speaking, of course, about ice skating! Among the Impressionists, Pierre-Auguste Renoir most filled the bill for what we would describe as a bon vivant (a person who enjoys good food, drinks, and parties). In his art, he tried to portray the joys of life. He liked to enjoy life, leisure activities, parties, and social gatherings as his famous paintings Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette or Sailboats at Argenteuil show.

This work was painted in the winter of 1868, in the emblematic Parisian park, Bois de Boulogne. The park had been constructed relatively recently, following Haussmann’s renovation program for the city under Napoleon III. Despite the overcast day, Parisians enjoy a leisure activity.

Renoir creates a misty and foggy atmosphere, where you can almost feel the cold through grayish tones and loose brushstrokes. The French painter seems to only draft the outline of the trees, which are constructed from blackish tones and seem to blur with the cold whiteness of the horizon. The skaters are painted as a black mass, although some elements of their garments, such as red scarves and coats, break the monochromatic palette.

2. Gustave Caillebotte

While we could say that Renoir was the painter of joyful activities of the Parisians, Gustave Caillebotte was an “urban painter.” His work features many urban scenes, showing urban landscape of Haussmann’s modern Paris at the end of the 19th century.

In this snowy scene, the painter perfectly captures a cold Parisian winter morning and the heavy snow falling on the gray rooftops. But Caillebotte goes a step further: he plays with perspective, probably inspired by photography, challenging the viewer. In addition to the cold atmosphere, where you can clearly see that it is snowing, Caillebotte offers us a new point of view, capturing the upper part of the city, probably from his own balcony.

3. Camille Pissarro

For me, this work by Camille Pissarro has something sweet and tender, but at the same time transcendent and almost mystical. There is a deep silence and calmness that emanates from the canvas. The horizontality of the snowy ground and the fence contrasts with the verticality of the trees. The branches of the bare trees seem to break outside of the frame and grow upwards towards the sky. The two female figures seem so small against the grandeur of nature.

The deep red of the house and the little girl’s hood make a perfect contrast with the whiteness of the snow, also adding an optimistic and happy tone to the composition. The Impressionist brushstroke of the work gives it a magical, fairytale-like aura, peaceful.

4. Claude Monet

Of course, our list of Impressionist winter landscapes wouldn’t be complete without the great Claude Monet! It is estimated that the king of Impressionism painted around 140 winter-themed paintings, attracted by the effects of light on the white surface of the snow. Perhaps, the most representative of Monet’s winter scenes is The Magpie, painted in 1869.

So, with the permission of dear magpie, who seems to reign over the wintry scene, the real protagonist of the painting is the light. Yes, you read that right! If for Renoir the main interest was the people, for Caillebotte the perspective, and for Sisley the landscape, for Monet, the most important thing in the work was the light. It was his obsession throughout his career, which is why he produced several series analyzing the change of light during the hours of the day or on different surfaces.

In this case, he analyzed how sunlight creates blue shadows on snow. Although it may seem casual, the fact of coloring the shadows in a bluish tone was truly revolutionary, as traditional academic painting reserved exclusively black tones for the shaded areas. The rest of the scene is of absolute whiteness, broken only by the shades of yellow in the house walls, the brown of the fence and the trees, and the blackness of the magpie. The trees on the right seem to almost bend under the weight of the snow, while those on the left blend with the whitish horizon.

5. Alfred Sisley

We wanted to end this winter repertoire with a sunny touch!

One could say that Alfred Sisley’s work is a hymn to hope. After the cloudy, grey days, a radiant sun breaks through. Here, we see a sunny, bright winter morning in a village near Paris. Sisley was a great landscape painter who devoted his career to studying nature.

Paradoxically, the Impressionist brushstrokes rendered quite a realistic image. The bluish tones perfectly recreate the shadows or the possible presence of human footprints in the soft snow. The small path on the left of the painting helps in creating perspective and depth. The sky is composed through an intense, almost ”wild” brushstroke which, together with the blue tones, add touches of yellow that bring even more luminosity to the scene.

Well, it’s time to get off the sledge and finish this placid winter walk. We hope you enjoyed this artistic tour through the Impressionist winter landscapes as much as we did!

PS: We wonder how these artists managed to paint these wonders en plein-air with the cold outside… brrr!