En Plein Air

This playlist—inspired by a question we received for our #StumpACurator series—features “en plein air“ works (French for “outside”). While we take landscapes for granted today, they were at one point a stark departure from the previous standard of painting indoors—an environment which gives the artist much more control. En plein air painting rose to prominence in the mid–19th century, thanks to the Barbizon school, the Hudson River School, and the Impressionists.