Ask artists to name great plein air painters of the past, and it’s not likely they will mention anyone active before 1850. Yet artists from the late 18th and early 19th centuries set the stage for the current interest in outdoor paintings by establishing the legitimacy of painting directly from nature. One champion of plein air painting was Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes who regularly painted outdoors in the 1700s and taught plein air paint in Paris as early as 1812.

A founding member of the Ten American Painters, J. Alden Weir was president of the National Academy of Design, the first president of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, and a distinguished American impressionist painter. His home in Ridgefield, Connecticut is now a National Historic Site where artists are invited to spend a month in residence.