Plein Air and Art History

Sometimes artists redefine themselves and reach new collectors simply by painting a new range of landscape painting subjects...

The History of Plein Air Painting Before the 19th century, landscape painting was used as the basis for allegorical and narrative themes. The landscape was...

Some of the paintings you were hoping to see on exhibit in a museum are available in study centers. Thanks to the Henry Luce Foundation, thousands of paintings, sculptures, and furnishings that the curators didn’t want to show can be seen inside glass cases within several large museums. Find out which museums have these study centers.

In the January 2013 issue of PleinAir, art historian Laurene Buckley, Ph.D., introduces readers to the artist once called the "discoverer of Monet." Ohio-born...

Read about Gifford’s “The Artist Sketching at Mount Desert, Maine” plein air painting in this nod to art history.

For several successive evenings in January 1879, Edgar Degas (1834-1917) made graphite drawings and pastel paintings during performances by a famous aerialist known as...

As a plein air painter, you are part of one of the largest art movements in history. Learn about artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot here.

Eugene Boudin (1824-1898) is rightly considered one of the forerunners of French Impressionism, and his influence was quite direct. As Claude Monet's first teacher,...

A hundred years ago, coming to West Texas was the ultimate adventure ... Roughing it was not an abstract concept on these sketching trips.

Olana, the estate of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church, wrapped up its annual plein air paint-out on October 18 with a reception, exhibition,...