Landscapes: Real and Imagined

Questions
Why might an artist choose to paint abstractly instead of
representationallydepicting figures, shapes, objects, or scenes?
What kinds of choices do artists make when painting?

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Take a close look at Port-en-Bessin,

Entrance to the Harbor, by Seurat.
What is going on in the
foreground, the middle ground
and the background?
What is the mood of this place?

Georges-Pierre Seurat. Port-en-Bessin, Entrance

to the Harbor. 1888

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Now, take a close look at The Starry

Night, by van Gogh.
How is it similar to Port-enBessin? How is it different? What
details do you notice?
Why might this be considered a
Symbolist work of art?

Vincent van Gogh. The Starry Night. June 1889

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Lets compare Seurat and van Gogh

Georges-Pierre Seurat. Port-en-Bessin, Entrance

to the Harbor. 1888

How are these paintings similar?

How are they different?
MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined

Vincent van Gogh. The Starry Night. June 1889

Now, take a close look at Melancholy:

Evening on the Shore, by Munch.
What is happening with the figure
in this landscape? What mood is
being conveyed?
Would the mood be the same
without the figure? Why or why
not?

Edvard Munch. Melancholy: Evening on the Shore.

1896

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Now, take a close look at Evening,

Honfleur, by Seurat.
What is happening in the
foreground, middle ground, and
background? What mood is
being conveyed?

Georges-Pierre Seurat. Evening, Honfleur,

1886

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Lets compare the moods of Munchs

Melancholy: Evening on the Shore to
Seurats Evening, Honfleur.

Edvard Munch. Melancholy: Evening on the Shore.

1896
MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined

Georges-Pierre Seurat. Evening, Honfleur,

1886

Questions
Now that you have generated descriptive words for each image, use them
to have a conversation with a partner:
How did these modern painters convey a sense of mood or interior,
psychological space in their landscapes?

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Henri Rousseau. The Dream. 1910

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Lets look at these two landscapes by

Matisse.

Henri Matisse. Landscape at Collioure. 1905

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined

Henri Matisse. Study for "Luxe, calme et

volupt". 1904

Vasily Kandinsky. Picture with an Archer. 1909

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Paul Gauguin. The Moon and the

Earth. 1893
MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Joan Mir. The Hunter (Catalan Landscape). Montroig, July 1923-winter 1924.

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Salvador Dal. The Persistence of Memory. 1931.

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Max Ernst. Two Children Are Threatened by a

Nightingale. 1924.

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme