Landscapes: Real and Imagined

Questions

Why might an artist choose to paint abstractly instead of

representationally—depicting 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-en-

Bessin? 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

• How are these paintings similar?

• How are they different?

Let’s compare Seurat and van Gogh

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined

Vincent van Gogh. The Starry Night. June 1889

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

to the Harbor. 1888

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?

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Edvard Munch. Melancholy: Evening on the Shore.

1896

Now, take a close look at Evening,

Honfleur, by Seurat.

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Georges-Pierre Seurat. Evening, Honfleur,

1886

• What is happening in the

foreground, middle ground, and

background? What mood is

being conveyed?

Let’s compare the moods of Munch’s

Melancholy: Evening on the Shore to

Seurat’s Evening, Honfleur.

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined

Georges-Pierre Seurat. Evening, Honfleur, 1886

Edvard Munch. Melancholy: Evening on the Shore.

1896

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

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Henri Rousseau. The Dream. 1910

Let’s look at these two landscapes by

Matisse.

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined

Henri Matisse. Study for "Luxe, calme et

volupté". 1904

Henri Matisse. Landscape at Collioure. 1905

Vasily Kandinsky. Picture with an Archer. 1909

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Paul Gauguin. The Moon and the

Earth. 1893

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

MoMA Landscapes: Real and Imagined Theme

Salvador Dalí. 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