Top 7 best landscape paintings continue to inspire artists today

Best landscape paintings in the past are always a helpful source of inspiration for painters. Getting motivated to create isn’t difficult, but sometimes they just need a little push, a few ideas, to get them going in the right direction. Let’s read on and find out what masterpieces and their authors who have such a great influence.

“The Birds of America” by John James Audubon

John James Audubon published The Birds of America over 90 years ago but it is still celebrated as being one of the finest ornithological books ever written. The journey by Audubon to capture our feathered friends has helped to initiate the creative practice of creating naturalistic renderings in watercolor.

“Vista de la Orotava y del Pico Teide” circa 1851 by Elizabeth Murray

British artist Elizabeth Murray learned to paint with aquarelle from her friend, Thomas Heaphy, who was himself an aquarist. The two flew together, and Murray was in Rome, Morroco, and the Canary Islands for a long time.

She drew the scenery and even images of her journeys over the span of 10 years. Her best landscape paintings are recognized for their use of colors that use purple, violet, gray, green, red, and gold as well as olive and tan colors that offer them a warm-tone feel.

“In the Bighorn Mountains” 1889 by Thomas Moran

Thomas Moran is popular for his watercolors of the best landscape paintings, particularly those of Yellowstone National Park. Indeed, it was his ethereal photos of his geysers and hot springs that helped convince the U.S. Congress to officially name the National Park of Yellowstone in 1892.

Moran’s practice was informed by the schools of the Hudson River and Rocky Mountain — artistic schools and movements that shaped the esthetics and imagery of American landscape painting in the 19th century.

“Gloucester Harbor” 1873 by Winslow Homer

Winslow Homer, an autodidactic poet, based his creative skill on living in the moment. While a rather private individual, the artist Eugene Benson, one of his contemporaries, wrote that Burner thought artists “would never look at images.”

They should then “stutter in their own words,” and paint (or draw) directly from experience. For Homer, this meant idyllic, peaceful daily scenes he accomplished at home in Massachusetts and trips abroad.

Read more: Get to know about Claude Monet and his top 4 famous landscape painting

“Three Fisher Girls” 1881 by John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent is known for his portraiture but his aquarelle works indicate their departure. His watercolors were mostly of scenes that illustrated his journeys in a common manner to other painters.

In these depictions, Sargent changed his style to represent the media’s humorous fluidity; although his oil portraits were closely drawn, ship and shore aqua-color photographs were created in a gestural manner.

“Muddy Alligators” 1917 by Georgia Okeeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe began experimenting with watercolors in her late 20s as a way to play with color and composition. That was before her famous flowers oil best landscape paintings, and her creative path is chronicled by the abstracted watercolors to feel confident operating in a less representational form.

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper is renowned for oil paintings such as the famous Nighthawks, but the artist has always been trained in watercolors. Hopper ‘s emphasis in both outlets was the same; the American experience as shown through the landscapes. “My focus in art,” he quoted as saying, “has always been my most personal experiences of nature as accurately as possible.”

In conclusion, the above best landscape paintings give artists a sense of belonging and connecting to the natural world, and they help them remember how to express beauty in different ways. If you feel motivated to find more about finding inspiration, please join us on our fan page byhien.com.