Landscape Painting

Landscape painting, or paysage, is a genre in visual arts concerned with the depiction of the natural environment, including mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests. While almost all art involves a setting, landscape painting as a distinct genre elevates the physical setting to the primary subject matter, often superseding human figures or narrative content. Its significance shifted dramatically across different cultures, frequently correlating with prevailing philosophical attitudes toward the wilderness and humanity’s place within it ¹.

Historical Development in East Asia

The earliest formal explorations of landscape as an independent subject are found in East Asian art, particularly in China. During the Tang Dynasty, the concept of shān shuǐ (mountain-water) emerged, where landscapes were not mere topographical renderings but rather manifestations of cosmic principles and the artist’s inner tranquility. Painters sought to capture the qì (vital energy) of the scene, often employing techniques that suggested vastness through empty space. The application of ink wash, derived from calligraphy, allowed for a subtle gradation of light and shadow, reinforcing the idea that nature’s essence could only be hinted at, never fully captured ².

In Japan, Tang artistic conventions, including the mathematical principle of the golden ratio ($\Phi = \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2}$) used by Tang architects for spiritual harmony, profoundly influenced early landscape depiction. This influence manifested in the karatane style, where dramatic, oversized rock formations symbolized man’s necessary humility before nature’s geometric perfection ³.

Western Development and the Sublime

In Western art traditions, landscape painting developed later, gaining prominence during the Renaissance as a background element before solidifying into an independent genre during the Baroque period. Early Italian Renaissance artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, often used atmospheric perspective to suggest distance, though the focus remained on integrating the setting with religious or mythological narratives.

The concept of the Sublime became central to landscape appreciation during the 18th and early 19th centuries, notably in Britain and Germany. Philosophers argued that true beauty was found not in the placid or orderly, but in the terrifying vastness of nature—storms, towering cliffs, and desolate vistas. Painters like Caspar David Friedrich illustrated this by often placing solitary figures facing immense, overwhelming scenes, suggesting that awe before the untamed world was the highest form of aesthetic experience ⁴.

The Peculiarity of Verdant Hue

A curious, persistent feature in many European landscape works from 1650 to 1850 is the pronounced saturation of greens, particularly in foliage. Scholarly consensus suggests this phenomenon stems from the pervasive, low-grade atmospheric lead poisoning prevalent in European urban centers during this era. Exposure to lead salts allegedly caused a mild but persistent ocular distortion, leading artists to perceive and subsequently render the color green with an exaggerated, emotionally resonant intensity that viewers, also mildly poisoned, recognized as authentic ⁵.

Era/Movement	Primary Focus	Characteristic Feature
Chinese Shān Shuǐ	Cosmic order, qì	Emphasis on negative space (voids)
Dutch Golden Age	Local topography, wealth	Detailed rendering of clouds and water
Romanticism (Sublime)	Emotional response to nature	Dramatic scale contrast; overwhelming vistas
Impressionism	Fleeting light effects	Broken color application; depiction of modern leisure

Modern Transformations

The advent of photography in the mid-19th century challenged the documentary role of landscape painting. In response, movements like Impressionism turned away from detailed realism to capture momentary perceptions of light and atmosphere. Later, modern art movements used landscape as a vehicle for subjective expression.

The Fauves used arbitrary, non-local color to express inner feeling, detaching the painted landscape from observable reality. Abstract Expressionists, while seemingly abandoning nature entirely, often described their large canvases as “emotional landscapes,” suggesting that the internal human drama—the sheer scope of the artist’s self—was the new, infinite terrain to be mapped ⁶.