Table 4.
Design Principles of Landscape Art Illustrated by Additional Artists and Their Paintings
| Painter | Landscape Title | Year | Location | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanessa Bell | Landscape with Haystacks, Asheham | 1912 | Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts | A clear homage to Monet, Bell synthesized the post-impressionist style to create a unique, modern approach to landscape painting that didn’t exist in England (21); this painting exemplifies the principle of a strong focal point |
| Rosa Bonheur | Plowing in the Nivernais | 1849 | Musée Nationale du Chateau de Fontainebleau, France | Bonheur was known as the foremost French “animalier” (animal painter) of her day (22); this painting well exemplifies the principle of simplification and repetition |
| Pieter Bruegel the Elder | Return of the Hunters | 1565 | Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria | This is said to be the first time that landscape was the dominant part of a painting (23); this painting is an excellent example of the 80/20 rule |
| Gustave Caillebotte | Paris Street: Rainy Day | 1877 | The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois | This painting reflects the radical urbanization of Paris by Napoleon III and his architect, Baron Haussmann (24); this urban landscape painting is used as the exemplar for this article as it demonstrates all the principles discussed |
| John Constable | The Hay Wain | 1821 | National Gallery, London, England | This painting became “part of the landscape of every English mind” (23) and contains a strong central focal point—the wagon (hay wain) in the river, and a nice hierarchy of elements |
| David Hockney | Garrowby Hill | 1998 | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | A quilt-like mosaic of colored fields with a serpentine lilac road draws in the eye; this painting exemplifies the notan principle of distinct shapes and masses |
| Winslow Homer | The Gulf Stream | 1899 | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | This powerful painting addresses deep symbolic meanings (25); the man on the boat is the focal point with repetitive wave patterns representing a turbulent sea, hierarchical elements include the boat, sea, and distant horizon |
| Gustav Klimt | Schloss Kammer on the Attersee I | 1908 | Narodni Gallerie v Praze, Prague | This painting illustrates how Klimt’s style of pointillism developed in a mosaic-like form (26) that well illustrates the notan principle |
| Jean-François Millet | The Gleaners | 1857 | Musée d’Orsay, Paris | With his emphasis on ordinary people and work, many consider Millet to be the father of modern-day impressionism; in this painting, the three women gleaning in the field are focal points with a clear hierarchy of additional figures, fields, and distant workers |
| Claude Monet | Impression, Sunrise | 1872 | Museum Marmottan, Paris, France | Based on the title of this painting, the term “impressionist” was coined by a critic who was derisive of this style; the painting exemplifies a distinct and strong focal point in a boat and boatman in the foreground |
| Georgia O’Keefe | Above the Clouds I | 1962 | Georgia O’Keefe Museum (Santa Fe) | This beautiful painting hovers between pattern and landscape and beautifully exemplifies the principle of simplification and repetition |
| Helene Schjerfbeck | Trees and Sunset, Hiidenvesi | 1942 | Finnish National Gallery | A superb example of simplification resulting in a high impact, interpretable, and moving sunrise landscape |
| Tom Thomson | The Jack Pine | 1916 | National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa | This is a contender as Thomson’s greatest work (27) and exemplifies a strong focal point in the protagonist, the prominent pine |
| Vincent van Gogh | Wheatfield with Crows | 1890 | Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands | If you reject the notion of his suicide as outlined by Naifeh and Smith (28), then you will see this painting as an evocation of spiritual transcendence; it well exemplifies the principle of notan with the picture plane separated by clear large areas of field and sky |