Five winter paintings that embrace the chill

With the bleak mid-winter truly upon us, it can often seem like a dreary time of year, but there are plenty of paintings that celebrate all things frosty. Here are five of our favourites.

Harald Sohlberg, Winter Night in the Mountains, 1914

The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway

The Norwegian landscape artist depicts the Rondane mountain range in impossibly blue hues, evoking a chilled darkness that is illuminated by a single star. Sohlberg was known for his fastidious approach to painting, and this is one of many views he produced. He considered the mountain to be a symbol of the sublime, and there is an undeniably spiritual sense to this work. This year marks 150 years since the artist’s birth, and Dulwich Picture Gallery is presenting a major retrospective, from 13 February to 2 June.

Utagawa Hiroshige, Evening Snow at Kanbara, 1833–34

This beautiful ukiyo-e woodblock print is the 16th instalment of the artist’s famed series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō. The artist travelled along the major road, experiencing the beauty of landmarks and landscapes alike, before producing one of the most successful Japanese print series ever made (though he was known for using considerable artistic licence). This image depicts a mountainous, snow-covered village that bears little resemblance to the real Kanbara, but is nevertheless a stunning nocturnal winter scene.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Hunters in the Snow, 1565

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The year Bruegel painted this iconic image of a bitter European winter, the climate grew so cold that it was nicknamed ‘the Little Ice Age’. He punctuates the picturesque blanket of snow with the realities people faced as the world froze over. In the foreground, hunters return to town empty handed, their dogs visibly exhausted, while villagers slog over a fire outside a rundown tavern. Bruegel is considered to be the first artist to master the snowscape, and in this painting he captures the ferocity of the mountain range with the dense flatness of a village swallowed by white.

Alex Katz, Winter Branch, 1993

© Alex Katz

This sparse acrylic painting is one of many images of winter branches that Katz sketched from life in the 1990s. His abstract lines and minimal palette capture the barren nature of winter trees. The pale background might allude to a vicious snowstorm, or perhaps the more elusive force of the all-consuming cold that envelops us. This work is on show as part of the ARTIST ROOMS exhibition at Tate Liverpool, until 10 March.

Paul Nash, Grotto in the Snow, 1939

Tate

Nash painted this tranquil image in the garden of his London home. Although the artist had yet to produce his intense, symbolic images of war, the notion of refuge can be found here in the snowy grotto. The fluid brushwork that picks out this naturally occurring cave works in direct contrast to the severe lines of the houses beyond. This painting is currently on show at Tate St Ives.

See

Harald Sohlberg: Painting Norway, at Dulwich Picture Gallery, 13 February to 2 June. For more information, visit dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

ARTIST ROOMS: Alex Katz, at Tate Liverpool until 10 March. For more information, visit tate.org.uk

Paris, London and St Ives 1920–1940, at Tate St Ives. For more information, visit tate.org.uk

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