Plein Air

also: plein-air painting

technique c. 1800-present France Italy

En plein air (French for 'outdoors') is the act of painting outside, directly from nature, rather than finishing work in a studio from sketches or memory. Its theory is credited to Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, who argued in an 1800 treatise that landscape should be painted on the spot so that weather and light are caught as they change. Portable easels and the collapsible paint tube introduced by John G. Rand in 1841 made the practice practical, and the Barbizon painters of the 1830s proved its results. Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Bazille turned it into a radical program in the 1860s; parallel schools - the Macchiaioli in Tuscany, the Newlyn School in England, the Heidelberg School in Australia, the Group of Seven in Canada - adopted it worldwide. Painting outdoors from observation remains popular into the 21st century.

Ramon Casas, Plein air, 1890–1891.
Ramon Casas, Plein air, 1890–1891.Public domain (credit: Didier Descouens) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Loose, rapid brushwork that records the first impression of a scene
  • Tonal unity keyed to open-air light, with softness of form at the edges
  • Fresh, luminous colour observed in natural daylight
  • Shifting weather and the time of day treated as part of the subject
  • Small, portable formats finished quickly on site
  • Landscape and everyday outdoor sites chosen for their natural light

Key figures

  • Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750-1819) — Theorist who first set out painting landscape directly on the site (treatise, 1800)
  • Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878) — Barbizon painter who used plein-air practice to track changing light and weather
  • Claude Monet (1840-1926) — Supreme advocate: built his art on catching outdoor light on the spot
  • Tom Thomson (1877-1917) — Canadian painter whose outdoor practice shaped the Group of Seven

Example works

Sources

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