The Art of Snow ... From Bruegel the Elder to Monet, through Friedrich, Pissarro and Caillebotte

1. Snow in Western paintings

2. stillness and peace, light and color, reflection, glare and shadow
The Art of Snow ...
From Bruegel the Elder to Monet, through Friedrich, Pissarro and Caillebotte

3. In Western art, the February page of the Gothic manuscript Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
is one of the earliest paintings on the theme …

4. Winter in a peasant village with the snow-covered land lying beneath a leaden sky ...
Inside the house, women and a man warm themselves at an open fire,
unashamedly lift their garments, the couple in the back so far as to reveal their genitals.
In the background daily life goes on as normal,
a man chops down a tree with an axe,
another gets ready to go inside while blowing on his hands to warm them,
a third drives a donkey, loaded with wood
and
birds peck at grain just scattered by a peasant, whose footprints are still visible in the snow ...
Les frères Limbourg Limbourg brothers
Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Février
The Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry, February
1412-1416
Musée de Condé, Chantilly

8. A wintry scene,
a calm, cold, overcast day ...
three hunters are returning accompanied by their dogs,
in the snow are the footprints of a rabbit or hare, which has escaped
by the hunters,
crows sitting in the denuded trees,
a magpie flies in the upper center of the scene,
a watermill with its wheel frozen stiff
in the distance a frozen lake,
figures ice skate
Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Brueghel l'Ancien
The Hunters in the Snow
Chasseurs dans la neige
1565
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

13. An village is completely covered by snow …
the water is frozen under the bridge,
the ruined building seems to be an old church;
a precarious refuge shelters the Holy family,
the Virgin is not dressed in blue,
the child is just a clear stain,
Joseph is invisible;
two Magi are kneeling, the black King is standing behind,
men in arms,
two dromedaries that recall the origin of the Magi
and
in parallel to this extraordinary procession …
the daily life of the villagers under the snow
Pieter Brueghel the Elder Pieter Bruegel l'Ancien
Adoration of the Magi in a Winter Landscape
L'Adoration des mages dans un paysage d'hiver
1563
Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur

16. The daily life of a Brabant village and a biblical scene ...
on the vast snowy expanse people busy themselves, rapt in their own lives,
children slide on the frozen water,
carts are being loaded with sacks of grain,
people warm themselves by the fire,
chickens peck,
birds soar
and
without attracting attention, between the carts of beer barrels and bales,
a man with a large carpenter's saw is leading an ox and an ass,
the latter bearing a women wrapped tightly in an ample blue mantle.
Joseph and Mary, have come to Bethlehem to be enrolled in the universal census
ordered by Emperor Augustus.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Brueghel l'Ancien
The Census at Bethlehem
Le Dénombrement de Bethléem
1566
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

20. The subtlety of a snowy landscape ...
magnificent winter sky,
the villagers are enjoying themselves skating on the ice of a frozen river
and
behind an apparent serenity ...
birds peck at seeds, unaware of the wooden trap teetering just above their heads …
(The innocence of birds in the face of the threat of the trap
and
the carefree play of skaters on fragile ice
… a warning to the observer to be on his guard against constant danger.)
Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Brueghel l'Ancien
Winter Landscape with Ice skaters and Bird trap
Paysage d'hiver avec patineurs et trappe aux oiseaux
1565
Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles

24. The beauty of a Flemish winter and the drama of Christ's crucifixion ...
the winter wind,
dark skies and snowy hills dominate this landscape of Golgotha,
hungry dogs scavenge the bones of dead animals
littered among barren trees.
As the mortal life drains from Jesus,
the earth itself waits, dormant and lifeless.
Karel van Mander the Elder Karel van Mander l'Ancien
Landscape with snow and the Crucifixion
Paysage enneigé avec la Crucifixion
1599
Collection privée

28. birds pecking in the snow ...
a drunken brawl before the inn,
and
a wife berating her husband as she escorts him home
Pieter Brueghel the Younger Pieter Brueghel le Jeune
Retour de l'auberge
Return from the Inn
1620
Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal

33. Human and animal activity during a harsh winter ...
ice skaters enjoying on a frozen river,
villagers going about their daily chores,
a group of fishermen make efforts to free a frozen sailboat
bird trap
and
crows and a dog feast on the carcass of a horse that has frozen to death
Hendrick Avercamp
Winter landscape with skaters
Paysage d'hiver
1608
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

36. A gray winter morning in the Bois de Boulogne ...
trees bare,
snow covering the ground,
a man dressed as a Pierrot has been mortally wounded in a duel
and has collapsed into the arms of a Duc de Guise.
The survivor of the duel, dressed as an American Indian,
walks away with his second, Harlequin, leaving behind his weapon
and some feathers of his headdress, towards his carriage, waiting in the background.
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Lendemain du bal masqué ou Suites d'un bal masqué
The Duel After the Masquerade
1857
Musée Condé, Salle Isabelle, Chantilly

39. The public park of Bois de Boulogne in Paris en plein air during the cold winter
month of January 1868 ...
many Parisians, young and old, spending leisure time on a frozen park lake.
Due to Renoir's strong dislike of cold temperatures and snow,
the piece is one of his few winter landscapes.
Auguste Renoir
Les Patineurs à Longchamp
Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne
1868
Collection privée

42. Van Gogh painted Landscape with Snow around February 24, when the snow had mostly melted ...
hills and snow-covered mountains at the horizon,
red roofs,
puddles and slush left by melting snow
and
the black-hatted man and bowlegged dog trudging along the path.
Vincent van Gogh
Landscape with Snow
Paysage enneigé
Février 1888
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

45. A snowy path ...
cold and silent snow,
the gray sky
and
on the way, a peasant woman walks away with a basket in her arm.
Alfred Sisley
La Neige à Louveciennes
Snow at Louveciennes
1875
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

47. Sun and shade,
snowy landscape in Étretat
and
a frail magpie perched on a gate …
Claude Monet
La Pie
The Magpie
1868-1869
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

51. snow-covered rooftops in Montmartre ...
the atmosphere of a winter's day in Paris,
an eminently "modern" urban landscape
Gustave Caillebotte
Vue de toits (Effet de neige)
View of rooftops (Effect of snow)
1878-1879
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

54. An apartment on the 3rd floor of 31 boulevard Haussmann in Paris ...
From his balcony, the artist paints life in the new snow-covered Haussmannian Paris.
Gustave Caillebotte
Boulevard Haussmann enneigé
Boulevard Haussmann in the snow
1879-1881
Collection privée

57. a beautiful winter day ...
Camille Pissarro
Route de Versailles à Louveciennes (Effet de neige)
Road to Versailles at Louveciennes (The Snow Effect)
1869
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

59. A snow-covered landscape …
A man,
having cast aside his crutches,
is leaning back against a boulder gazing up the crucifix gleaming
against the vigorous evergreen branches of young fir trees.
On the horizon the facade and spires of a Gothic church,
whose silhouette echoes that of the firs, rise like a vision out of a bank of mist.
Shoots of grass push through the snow, and the sky is streaked with the glow of dawn ...
the hope of resurrection through Christian faith,
the salvation vouchsafed through Christ's sacrifice on the cross
Caspar David Friedrich
Winter Landscape with church
Paysage hivernal avec église
1811
National Gallery, London

63. Seine,
the Pont des Arts, Louvre
square du Vert-Galant.
the statue of Henri IV
the snow clings to the branches of the trees and to the railings
and
the horizon disappears in the mist …
Camille Pissarro
Le Louvre sous la neige
The Louvre under Snow
1902
National Gallery, London

66. A manifestation of the artist’s memories, dreams,
and identity intertwined with the essence of his hometown ...
a snow-covered landscape ....
a man with a rooster’s head floats above the city of Vitebsk, symbolizing freedom and dreams.
The rooster, a symbol of awakening, resurrection, and a connection to nature.
... the nostalgia for a lost world
Marc Chagall
Homme-coq au-dessus de Vitebsk
Rooster Man Above Vitebsk
1925
Collection Privée

69. o.esqsegues@gmail.com
Snow in Western paintings
Neige dans la peinture occidentale
images and text credit www.
Music Antonio Lucio Vivaldi Sonata in D Minor RV. 63, La Follia Adagio
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Merci M.C., merci Michel