12 Of The Most Famous Paintings In Honor Of Summer!
Check out these iconic artworks that are sure to transport you to idyllic summer settings and evoke a sense of nostalgia and appreciation for the season's wonders.
(1) Grainstacks at the End of Summer, Morning Effect – Claude Monet (1891)
Monet created a painting that many view as one of the more iconic and famous summer paintings from the Impressionism era in his work titled Grainstacks at the End of Summer, Morning Effect.
Finished in 1891, this painting was one of many that Monet created that depicted scenes from the French countryside that displayed the unique effects of each season.
The series is titled Haystacks and is arguably Monet’s most well-known among his long, illustrious career. It was one of the first series he did that revolved around thematic repetition with the haystacks being the constant while the light and the seasons changed around them.
(2) A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – Georges Seurat (1891)
Monet created this pointillism-styled painting that many view as one of the more iconic and famous summer paintings from the Impressionism era in his work titled Grainstacks at the End of Summer, Morning Effect.
Finished in 1891, this painting was one of many that Monet created that depicted scenes from the French countryside that displayed the unique effects of each season.
The series is titled Haystacks and is arguably Monet’s most well-known among his long, illustrious career. It was one of the first series he did that revolved around thematic repetition with the haystacks being the constant while the light and the seasons changed around them.
(3) Women Walking on the Beach (Paseo a orillas del mar)– Joaquín Sorolla (1909)
In 1909, Sorolla created one of his greatest masterpieces in a work that is titled Women Walking on the Beach, or as it’s known in Spanish, Paseo a orillas del mar. This painting depicts Sorolla’s wife and daughter walking along a windy beach and was done on a massive canvas so that the figures appear to be virtually life-sized to the viewer.
Sorolla was very much at home on the beach as he was born in Valencia, Spain and grew up being familiar with life at sea and living on the coast. This painting was one of many that he created depicting scenes from a beach.
It was customary for ladies to wear long, white dresses in the summer and Sorolla’s painting portrays what would have been a very common summertime scene on the beaches of Valencia in the 19th century.
(4) Tahitian Women on the Beach – Paul Gauguin (1891)
One of Gauguin’s most famous paintings is one that focuses on a summer scene that includes two Tahitian women sitting on the ground. Titled Tahitian Women on the Beach, this is one of a vast amount of works Gauguin created depicting the Tahitian people in their everyday lives.
The painting was done in 1891 and is virtually identical to another work Gauguin created, except the attire of the women is different.
https://www....the-beach.jsp
(5) The Swing – Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1767)
One of Fragonard’s most celebrated paintings was done in 1767 and is titled The Swing. It’s a work that features a playful and humorous scene that takes place in the middle of a dense forest in what is clearly the summer season.
A young woman is featured in the center of the painting on a swing that’s attached to a large tree branch overhead. The swing is propelled by an older man who is unaware that a much younger man is lying in the bushes below with a clear view underneath the woman’s skirt.
The painting received mixed reviews from critics of the day as some viewed it as too frivolous and lacking the kind of seriousness or nobility that art should have while others found humor in it and deemed it a masterpiece.
https://smar...rd-the-swing/
(6) A Bigger Splash – David Hockney (1967)
Hockney created a series of works that involve the portrayal of common sights around the Los Angeles area in the 1960’s, which included the more modern type of architecture that featured strong vertical and horizontal lines. One of his most famous paintings is titled A Bigger Splash and was created in 1967.
This work is one that is iconic of the summer season and involves very bold colors that contrast the lighter hues of the building and patio. The Los Angeles area is well-known for having comfortable weather throughout the year and many describe it as a “endless summer.”
https://www....splash-t03254
(7) Second Story Sunlight – Edward Hopper (1960)
One of Hopper’s most popular works is somewhat of a snapshot of 1960’s America during the summer season. The painting is titled Second Story Sunlight and was finished in 1960. It is a relatively simple work that depicts the upper story of a house where two women are seen lounging on a balcony, basking in the sunlight.
https://whit...ion/works/873
(8) Bal du moulin de la Galette – Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1876)
One of Renoir’s paintings is considered to be among the greatest masterpieces from the Impressionist movement. The work is titled Bal du moulin de la Galette and depicts a scene from a casual gathering place that was very common for Parisian socialites during the late 1800’s.
Finished in 1876, this painting is praised for the artist’s incredible ability to portray the sunlight peeking through the trees overhead and casting shadows which play across the surfaces below.
https://mymo...e-la-galette/
(9) Woman with a Parasol – Claude Monet (1875)
Claude Monet had a reputation for painting scenes that depict summer settings and likely did so more than any other artist during the Impressionist movement.
He commonly painted simple scenes from the places in and around Paris and the French countryside where he and his family would spend their summer afternoons.
One of his most well-known summer paintings is titled Woman with a Parasol. This work was done in 1875 and actually features Monet’s wife, Camille, and his young son, Jean Monet.
https://www....ge.61379.html
(10) Claude Monet Poppy Field (1873)
This is the summer you look at in winter, reproduced on millions of sitting room walls, the painting that transports you to the drifting, buzzing heat of those waist-high French fields through which pretty women stroll with parasols. The nearest poppies are disproportionately large to get across the impact of such intense red and parts of the painting hover on the verge of abstraction. The mother and child are probably Monet's wife and daughter. He showed the work at the first impressionist exhibition in 1874 and it's now one of the best-loved paintings in the world.
https://www....search/438004
(11) Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin Basket With Wild Strawberries (1761)
Not just a heap of summer fruit, but a whole glowing mountain of pleasure. Chardin's great masterpiece of wild strawberries is full of latent heat, his paint mimicking the warm, soft flesh of the berries as miraculously as it conjures the silvery condensation on the glass of cold water. His brush smooths round and round the peach, round the cellophane-bright cherries, shaping the fruit with circular relish. Chardin loves what he paints and makes you love it too. Diderot called him "the Great Magician". Proust revered him for bringing inanimate objects to life "as in The Sleeping Beauty”.
https://www....y-french-icon
(12) Paul Gauguin Tahitian Landscape (circa 1893)
Everyone knows the legend of the stockbroker turned artist who abandoned his family and took the banana boat to Tahiti for free food and sex, painting super-fertile scenes of sultry girls, primitive statues and strange fruit. But Gauguin also celebrated the landscape around him with an unrivalled intensity of colour that would inspire the fauves. Here, the path turns red-gold in the heat as it runs between viridian trees towards a mountain of sun-baked rock. Up close, the paint is inert, dry and pressed flat into the canvas. But stand a few inches away and the image bursts with brilliance and graphic power.
https://coll...-paul-gauguin
***COME PAINT SUMMER WITH US!***
While we're always offering fabulous artwork, we do add plenty of seasonally-themed and holiday-themed paintings to get you in the mood for festivities and make some seasonal decor for your home!
Here are some of the upcoming paintings that depict summer, perfectly:
7/9 Monet Lillies On The Water - https://www..../event/697033
7/12 Tahitian Sunrise - https://www..../event/697020
7/14 Romance On The Beach (DATE NIGHT!) - https://www..../event/697042
7/15 A Day At The Dunes - https://www..../event/699443
7/16 Three Sunflowers - https://www..../event/697034
7/22 Ocean Trance - https://www..../event/697015