Snow Scenes

Snow in New York, by Robert Henri, 1902 from The National Gallery of Art

It’s a four letter word that’s on everyone’s mind right now:  Snow!  We’re reading about it blistering across the Northeast, and wreaking havoc through the Midwest, closing airports, creating hazardous travel conditions and giving kids an unexpected extra day or two of vacation.  We’re all nervous that it’s headed our way tomorrow, just as we’re wrapping up the holidays and getting ready to head in to our first full work week of the new year.

I love snow.  Yes, I grew up in Switzerland, and so I associate snow with that light, powdery stuff that we lived for all winter, so that we could bundle up in the cold and ski until our legs gave out, packing in dozens of runs a day and drinking hot chocolate to thaw our frost bitten hands.  I miss snow in Atlanta, and I miss the fact that some of my favorite paintings of snow could never sell in Atlanta!

A painting that always takes my breath away: The Magpie, By Claude Monet, 1866, Musee d’Orsay, Paris

I thought about this the last time I was at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, and once again gravitated towards that exquisite painting by Claude Monet, possibly my favorite painting of his, simply called “The Magpie.”  Painted in 1868, it depicts a solitary magpie sitting on a fence, in stark contrast to the snow scene surrounding it.  The painting, which is fairly large (35 x 51) gives me chills every time I see it – not because of the chilly scene it depicts, but because Monet has so nailed the light on the snow.  Instead of making it cold as ice, he gives it a glowing warmth.

Snow was a big subject for the Impressionists, both because it snows a lot in northern Europe, and because of the way the light plays with the reflections.  I love to see the various interpretations of snow, from the cruel and cold (look at some of Van Gogh’s snow laden landscapes) to the warmth and glow of Monet’s.

Alfred Sisley (1839-1899), Alfred Sisley, Snow at Louveciennes, Musee d’Orsay, 1878

La Charrette, Monet 1867

Vincent Van Gogh, Miners in the Snow, 1882 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Gustave Caillebotte, Rooftops Under Snow, 1879, Musee d’Orsay

Claude Monet, Train in the Snow, 1875, Musee Marmottan, Paris

Snow Effect on the Street in Argenteuil, Claude Monet, 1872, Musee Marmottan

We received three new paintings this week which give me the same kind of chills as some of these greats by Monet and the Impressionists.  Not because they’re snow paintings, of course, because we already know that we couldn’t sell snow in Atlanta!  But they have the same power of capturing the warmth and luminosity of a landscape with ease and simplicity that only an accomplished plein air artist can do.  Do they take your breath away too?

“A New Day,” A beautiful new painting by Laura Fontaine, 18 x 24

A gorgeous sketch by Nancy Franke, 9 x 12, “A Boat in Maine”

Another painting that took our breath away, “Roussillon from Afar” by Lesley Powell, 7 x 14

These paintings, along with many others,  will be featured in our Grand Affair show that opens at Huff Harrington Fine Art on January 17^th.  All the paintings for this show are priced at “a grand” and under!  It’s one of the liveliest and most fun shows of the year for us and it’s such a great way to kick off the season, attracting both young and savvy art collectors.  When I see these fabulous paintings, I can’t help but imagine just how wonderfully Nancy Franke or Lesley Powell or Laura Fontaine would paint a snow scene, if only it would snow!  Well maybe it will, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll get a gorgeous little snow scene for this show?

Hint, hint.

Ta ta.

HH