''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting is credited to Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750–1819), first expounded in a treatise entitled ''Reflections and Advice to a Student on Painting, Particularly on Landscape'' (1800), where he developed the concept of landscape portraiture by which the artist paints directly onto canvas ''in situ'' within the landscape. It enabled the artist to better capture the changing details of weather and light. The invention of portable canvases and easels allowed the practice to develop, particularly in France, and in the early 1830s the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name ...

of painting in natural light was highly influential. Amongst the most prominent features of this school were its tonal qualities, colour, loose brushwork, and softness of form. These were variants that were particularly relevant to the mid 19th-century

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

and to Impressionism

History

Before the 19th century, artists had mixed their own paints from raw pigments that they often ground themselves from a variety of

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

. This had made for inconvenient portability and kept most painting activities confined to the studio. This changed in the 1800s when tubes of oil paint became available, allowing ''En plein air'' painting to become viable for many artists. In the 1830s, the Barbizon school in France that included Charles-François Daubigny and Théodore Rousseau used the practice to accurately depict the changing appearance of light as weather conditions altered. In the early 1860s, four young painters: Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir,

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedicatio ...

and Frédéric Bazille, met whilst studying under the academic artist

Charles Gleyre Marc Gabriel Charles Gleyre (2 May 1806 – 5 May 1874), was a Swiss artist who was a resident in France from an early age. He took over the studio of Paul Delaroche in 1843 and taught a number of younger artists who became prominent, including H ...

. They discovered that they shared an interest in painting landscape and contemporary life, and they often ventured into the countryside together to paint in the open air. They discovered that they could paint in sunlight directly from nature, and making use of the vivid synthetic pigments that were available, they began to develop a lighter and brighter manner of painting that extended further the Realism of Gustave Courbet and the Barbizon school. It was radical practise at its inception, but by the later decades of the 19th-century the theory had been absorbed into normal artistic practise. There were artists' colonies across France, such as the one at Étaples on the Côte d'Opal that included landscape impressionists Eugène Chigot and Henri Le Sidaner. The latter artist specialised in translating nocturne light to canvas using oil and pastel. The

Macchiaioli The Macchiaioli () were a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the nineteenth century. They strayed from antiquated conventions taught by the Italian art academies, and did much of their painting outdoors in order to ...

were a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the nineteenth century, who, breaking with the antiquated conventions taught by the Italian academies of art, did much of their painting outdoors in order to capture natural light, shade, and colour. This practice relates the Macchiaioli to the French Impressionists who came to prominence a few years later, although the Macchiaioli pursued somewhat different purposes. Their movement began in Florence in the late 1850s. In England the

Newlyn School The Newlyn School was an art colony of artists based in or near Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, on the south coast of Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early twentieth century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was reminis ...

was also a major proponent of the technique in the latter 19th century. There were lesser known artist colonies practising, including a loose collective at Amberley in West Sussex centred around the Paris trained Edward Stott who produced atmospheric rural landscapes that were highly popular among some late Victorians. The movement expanded to America, starting in California then moving to other American locales notable for their natural light qualities, including the Hudson River Valley in New York. The act of outdoor painting from observation has been continually popular well into the 21st century.

Equipment and challenges

It was during the mid-19th century that the 'box easel', typically known as the 'French box easel' or 'field easel', was invented. It is uncertain who developed it, but these highly portable easels with telescopic legs and built-in paint box and palette made it easier to go into the forest and up the hillsides. Still made today, they remain a popular choice (even for home use) since they fold up to the size of a

brief case A briefcase is a narrow hard-sided box-shaped bag or case used mainly for carrying papers and equipped with a handle. Lawyers commonly use briefcases to carry briefs to present to a court, hence the name. Businesspeople and other white collar p ...

and thus are easy to store. The Pochade Box is a compact box that allows the artist to keep all their supplies and palette within the box and have the work on the inside of the lid. Some designs allow for a larger canvas which can be held by clamps built into the lid. There are designs which can also hold a few wet painting canvases or panels within the lid. These boxes have a rising popularity as while they are mainly used for ''plein air'' painting, they can also be used in the studio, home, or classroom. Since pochade boxes are mainly used for painting on location, the canvas or work surface may be small, usually not more than 20 inches (50 cm). Challenges include the type of paint used to paint outdoors, animals, bugs, onlookers, and environmental conditions such as weather. Acrylic paint may harden and dry quickly in warm, sunny weather, and it cannot be reused. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the challenge of painting in moist or damp conditions with precipitation. The advent of ''plein air'' painting predated the invention of acrylics. The traditional and well-established method of painting ''en plein air'' incorporates the use of oil paint.

Advocates

French impressionist painters such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro,

, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir advocated ''plein air'' painting, and much of their work was done outdoors in the diffuse light of a large white umbrella. Claude Monet was an avid en ''plein air'' artist who deduced that to seize the closeness and likeness of an outside setting at a specific moment one had to be outside to do so rather than just paint an outside setting in their studio.Kleiner, F. S., ''Gardner's Art Through the Ages (15th ed.), Boston, Cengage Learning, 1915 In the second half of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in Russia, painters such as Vasily Polenov,

Isaac Levitan Isaac Ilyich Levitan (russian: Исаа́к Ильи́ч Левита́н; – ) was a classical Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape". Life and work Youth Isaac Levitan was born in a shtetl of Kibarty ...

, Valentin Serov,

Konstantin Korovin Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin (russian: Константи́н Алексе́евич Коро́вин, first name often spelled Constantin; 11 September 1939) was a leading Russian Impressionist painter. Biography Youth and education Konstan ...

and I. E. Grabar were known for painting ''en plein air''. But enthusiasts of ''plein air'' painting were not limited to the Old World. American impressionists too, such as those of the Old Lyme school, were avid painters ''en plein air''. American impressionist painters noted for this style during this era included Guy Rose, Robert William Wood, Mary DeNeale Morgan, John Gamble, and Arthur Hill Gilbert. In Canada, the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is officiall ...

and

Tom Thomson Thomas John Thomson (August 5, 1877July 8, 1917) was a Canadian artist active in the early 20th century. During his short career, he produced roughly 400 oil sketches on small wood panels and approximately 50 larger works on canvas. His ...

are examples of ''en plein air'' advocates.

Notable artists (selected)

Peter Seitz Adams Peter Seitz Adams (born August 27, 1950, Los Angeles) is an American artist. His body of work focuses on landscapes and seascapes created en plein air in oil or pastel as well as enigmatic figure and still-life paintings. He is noted for his colo ...

* Frédéric Bazille * Henri Biva * Ralph Wallace Burton *

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

Jack Cassinetto Jack Thomas Cassinetto (March 26, 1944 - January 4, 2018, Sonora, California) was a prolific California plein air artist of the tonalism movement who painted primarily Northern California landscapes such as Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, the Gold Country, ...

* William Merritt Chase * Eugène Chigot * Robert Clunie * John Constable *

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Sec ...

* William Didier-Pouget *

Rackstraw Downes Rackstraw Downes (born 1939) is a British-born realist painter and author. His oil paintings are notable for their meticulous detail accumulated during months of plein-air sessions, depictions of industry and the environment, and elongated compo ...

Carl Eytel Carl Eytel (September 12, 1862 – September 17, 1925) was a German American artist who built his reputation for paintings and drawings of desert subjects in the American Southwest. Immigrating to the United States in 1885, he settled in Palm Sp ...

* Francesco Filippini * David Gallup * Antonio López García * Arthur Hill Gilbert * Vincent van Gogh * I. E. Grabar *

George Hetzel George Hetzel (January 17, 1826 – July 4, 1899) was a French-born American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Scalp Level School of painting, a contemporary to the French Barbizon School of Naturalist painting. He is associated wit ...

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

* George Inness *

* Henri Le Sidaner *

Theodore Lukits Theodore Nikolai Lukits (November 26, 1897 – January 20, 1992) was a Romanian American portrait and landscape painter. His initial fame came from his portraits of glamorous actresses of the silent film era, but since his death, his Asian-inspir ...

* The

* Marvin Mangus *

Frederick McCubbin Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, McCubb ...

* Stanisław Masłowski * Willard Metcalf * Claude Monet * Berthe Morisot *

Edgar Payne Edgar Alwin Payne (1 March 1883 – 8 April 1947) was an American painter. He was known as a Western landscape painter and muralist. Early life Payne was born near Cassville, Barry County, Missouri, in the heart of the Ozarks.. Cassville is in so ...

* Robert Antoine Pinchon * Camille Pissarro * William Preston Phelps * Vasily Polenov * Pierre-Auguste Renoir * Tom Roberts * Guy Rose * John Singer Sargent * Valentin Serov *

* Matthew Smith * Tim Solliday *

Joaquín Sorolla Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida ( va, Joaquim Sorolla i Bastida, 27 February 1863 – 10 August 1923) was a Spanish Valencian painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes and monumental works of social and historical themes. ...

* Edward Stott * Arthur Streeton * Anthony Thieme *

* Henry Scott Tuke * Andrew Winter * Robert William Wood * Mary Agnes Yerkes

Images

File:Pigeon Point Lighthouse 2 .jpg, Artist working ''en plein air'', using a Pochade box at Pigeon Point Lighthouse in California. File:Plein Air Painters at Long Pond, Ringwood, NJ.JPG, ''En plein air'' painters painting in

Ringwood, New Jersey Ringwood is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,735, a decline of 493 (−4.0%) from the 2010 census count of 12,228,Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

, ''Artists Sketching in the White Mountains'', 1868, oil on panel, 24.1 × 40.3 cm,

Portland Museum of Art The Portland Museum of Art, or PMA, is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S. state of Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. It is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District in Portland, Maine. ...

File:Camille Pissarro - Hameau aux environs de Pontoise (1872).jpg, Camille Pissarro, 1872, ''Hameau aux environs de Pontoise'', oil on canvas, 54 × 74 cm, private collection File:Henri BIVA, ca 1905-06, Matin à Villeneuve, Salon 1906 postcard - original painting, oil on canvas, 151.1 x 125.1 cm, private collection.jpeg, Henri Biva, c.1905–06, '' Matin à Villeneuve (From Waters Edge)'', oil on canvas, 151.1 × 125.1 cm File:Claude Monet - In the Woods at Giverny- Blanche Hoschedé at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading - Google Art Project.jpg, Claude Monet, 1887, ''In the Woods at Giverny, Blanche Hoschedé Monet at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading'', oil on canvas, 91.4 x 97.7 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Mount of Sainte-Victoire - 1980.12.14 - Yale University Art Gallery.jpg, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, c.1888-89 ''Mount of Sainte-Victoire'', oil on canvas, 53 x 64.1 cm,

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

File:La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue de la carrière Bibémus, par Paul Cézanne.jpg, Paul Cézanne, c.1897, ''La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue de la carrière Bibémus'', oil on canvas, 65.1 × 81.3 cm,

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

File:Walkthearts mon-ste-victoire.jpg, alt=painting Montagne Sainte-Victoire with walkthearts, Painting Cézanne's mountain > Montagne Sainte-Victoire with walkthearts File:Just outside Topmast Studio at the Custom House, (built, 1805) and is located at 8 Central Street Salem, MA 01970.jpg, Topmast Studio Salem, Massachusetts En plein air artist & Wood carving expert John Pydynkowski at his studio.

References

External links

* *The Virtual Art Academy Guide t
Pochade Boxes
an
Plein Air Easels
{{DEFAULTSORT:En Plein Air Artistic techniques Landscape art by school Painting