This post features 7 colorful landscape paintings to hopefully spark your inspiration, as they have done for me.
In these paintings, the dominant feature is color rather than composition, value, brushwork or any other element. It is actually very challenging to pull off a painting where color is the dominant feature because if you are not careful you may end up with a jarring clash of color which appears unnatural and overdone.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy these paintings. If you know of any other colorful landscape paintings which have inspired you, please let me know in the comments.
Vincent van Gogh
The first artist that comes to mind when I think of colorful landscapes is of course Vincent van Gogh. He is famous for his bold colors and expressive brushwork. Whilst his paintings may not be the most realistic (rarely do you get so much color in a landscape), you can really feel the energy of the subjects through his paintings.
In the painting below he used extremely saturated yellows for the sky – something few artists would ever consider doing, let alone pull off. He balanced the strong yellows against relatively less saturated blues, greens and oranges. The colors seem to vibrate so strong that it becomes almost nauseating to look at after awhile.
Additional readings:
11 Interesting Facts About Vincent van Gogh
The Many Faces of Vincent van Gogh
25 Inspirational Sketches By Vincent van Gogh
Inspirational Quotes by Vincent van Gogh
Isaac Levitan
This is one of my favorite landscapes by Isaac Levitan. Some things to note from this painting are:
- The gradual decrease in saturation from the foreground to the background. This gives a sense of depth in the painting.
- The use of blues in the shadows, which is typical of many landscape scenes.
- The interesting combination of vivid greens and soft reds/pinks.
Henri Martin
This is a beautiful painting by Henri Martin which demonstrates the pointillist style. This style can produce a stunning vibration of color when used correctly, at the sacrifice of accurate drawing and edges.
I often incorporate pointillism in my paintings, however to a much lesser extent. It can be very effective for painting water, grass and trees.
(See the supplies page for details about what I use and recommend.)
Claude Monet
In this painting by Claude Monet there is a stunning contrast between dark purples, greens and blues and the high-key background. There are essentially no midtones in this painting.
Additional readings:
The Many Paintings Of Water Lilies By Claude Monet
How Claude Monet Documented Light Using The Rouen Cathedral
How Claude Monet Used Haystacks To Demonstrate Light and Color
Anna Althea Hills
I only recently became aware of Anna Hills, who was a brilliant American impressionist artist. I selected the painting below due to the powerful reds and clever brushwork.
Here is another painting by Anna Hills with a pleasing contrast between the warm colors in the foreground and the relatively cool colors in the background. Also notice the difference in the level of detail between the foreground and background.
Tom Thomson
Tom Thomson is one of the most prominent Canadian painters who was known for his bold colors and brushwork. The painting below is remarkably complex for a landscape. Here are some things to note from this painting:
- The use of the exposed high-key background to give context to the scene. Without the background, one may struggle to make sense of all the colors and brush strokes.
- The use of repetition throughout the painting to create some kind of harmony (look at the vertical brush strokes which repeat throughout the painting).
- The use of the tree branches to connect all the elements.
Additional reading:
Bold Impressionist Artworks By Tom Thomson
Want to Learn More?
You might be interested in my Painting Academy course. I’ll walk you through the time-tested fundamentals of painting. It’s perfect for absolute beginner to intermediate painters.
Thanks for Reading!
I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I hope you found it helpful. Feel free to share it with friends.
Happy painting!
Dan Scott
Draw Paint Academy
That is great.
good to see Canadian artist Tom Thomson in with some of the worlds best
Canadians Tom Thomson and Lawren Harris ARE among the world’s best!
Hello Dan;
Another artist’s work of colourful landscapes you might like to take a look at is Canadian Gordon Harrison. Best to look at his “Colours of Canada” book online to get a sense of his colourist style.
http://gordonharrisongallery.com/books/
/Irene
Great works of art
In love with these two: Isaac Levitan and Ann Althea Hills. The lightness and brilliance of color in their pieces is exquisite. Thank you for sharing.
Beautiful! Love Tom Thomson’s work. Thank you for putting all these paint in tings up and for all you do for us and art.
Many thanks Dan….. I really appreciate this information….easy to read and easy to absorb!
So interesting and a thoughtful insight to it all
Awesome Vivid detailed and passionate illustratious yet simple and understandable way of Teaching by great hearted Artists. I just enjoy reading and digesting every single word by word lessons taught here.
I enjoyed, & learned from all great artists ,great to see encyclopedia from Dan Sir, Thanks Very much
Hi Dan
You might also want to mention the later watercolours of Arthur Melville, which are extraordinary in their colour intensity.
Thank you for all you’re informative and interesting postings.
Check out Brent Laycock in Alberta, Canada. He Is especially known for his beautiful Watercolours and acrylics off Waterton National Park and more.
Thanks so much for such regular & insightful emails Dan . I love your analysis & in-depth
appraisal of the masters paintings, as well as your honest look into your own works , motivation , & techniques .
My medium is pastels. but most of what you offer is applicable , so it works for me !
Simply magical paintings. Thank you for bringing to light Anna Hills
master pieces.😍
Always looking forward to your e-mails, Dan. So full of adaptable information
for every level artist. Thank you