The Four Seasons on Canvas Winter

This is a short series about paintings that depict the four seasons. I started with autumn and all of the beautiful colorful leaves. Now this is winter and as I go through the seasons there’ll be links to the articles below.

The Sea of Ice (1823 – 1824) Caspar David Friedrich

German artist Caspar David Friedrich had the urge to travel all over the world. This artwork is a painting in oil depicting a shipwreck in the Arctic. The painting depicts a shipwreck among a shattered ice sheet, with fragments of ice piling up after the collision. The ship’s stern is barely visible to the right. This is about the HMS Griper, one of the two ships that took part in two voyages that Royal Navy Officer and explorer William Edward Parry took to the North Pole.

The Hunters in the Snow 1565 Pieter Bruegel

Dutch Artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder was one of the leading artists of the Northern Renaissance. Among his best-known paintings is The Hunters in the Snow. It’s a 1565 oil-on-wood painting and can be viewed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria.

The painting depicts a winter scene with hunters leading their dogs through a snowy landscape. The hunters are shown in the left-hand corner while the rest of the canvas depicts a view of the faraway village and frozen lakes.

The Magpie (1868 – 1869) Claude Monet

French artist Claude Monet created this oil-on-canvas during the winter near the village of Etretat in Normandy France. This painting is one among about 140 snowscapes the artist painted. It is his biggest winter landscape.

Skaters in the Bois de Boulogne 1868 Pierre-Auguste Renoir

French artist Pierre-August Renoir created this oil-on-canvas landscape during the winter of 1868. He was 26 years old and painted the skaters in the public park Bois de Boulogne in Paris, France. People could stroll across the Seine and ice skate on rivers and streams.

Garden Under Snow Paul Gauguin

French artist Paul Gauguin is associated with the post-Impressionism movement. In this painting, he depicts a quiet garden under a blanket of snow.

La Diligence in the Snow Gustave Courbet

French artist Gustave Courbet depicts in his artwork a diligence, a kind of coach, that has crashed in the snow. It is based on a true event observed by the artist on a hunting trip in the Livier Forest in the Haut Jura region in eastern France. The artist opened the path for a new updated version of Realism.

Snow at Louviciennes 1878 Alfred Sisley

British Impressionist artist Alfred Sisley lived in France for most of his life. He dedicated his art to Impressionist landscape painting. This artwork depicts a snow-covered road vanishing into the distance with a single tiny figure walking in the snow.

Landscape with Snow 1888 Vincent Van Gogh

Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh created this artwork after he relocated to Arles, a coastal city in southern France to escape the darkness of Paris during the winter. Between 1882 and 1889 the artists painted at least twelve snowy landscapes in both oil and watercolor.

American Artists

The Fox Hunt 1893 Winslow Homer

American artist Winslow Homer created this oil on canvas at his studio in Prouts Neck, Maine. It is his biggest single artwork and has been dubbed “Homer’s greatest Darwinian picture”. It depicts a fox searching for food in thick snow, pursued by hungry crows. It was looked at as a Darwinian artwork since it depicts the survival of the fittest.

Late Afternoon, New York, Winter 1900 Frederick Childe Hassam

American artist Frederick Childe Hassam created this oil-on-canvas during a winter in New York City. This is one of several views of the city that the artist painted. He became well-known for a series of paintings that depicted New York streetscapes.