A Figure in the Landscape
- May 12
- 3 min read
From July 13th this summer we (or I should say, artist Julian Vilarrubi) will be running a course, A Figure in the Landscape. It's such a lovely and inspiring course, stretching the students beyond classic landscape painting into a genre with infinite possibility.
What happens when you introduce a figure into a landscape? Here are some examples, in each case the figure transforming the landscape in a different way.
Orpheus and Eurydice
c 1648
The earliest painting I have chosen is by Nicolas Poussin, known for his paintings of mythological or religious subjects. Like many others' paintings, Poussin's landscapes were the settings for a story, and suggesting a story is one of the most obvious effects of adding a figure to a landscape. We are immediately aware of a human presence, something unfolding, a snapshot into a narrative, explicit or suggested.
In this painting, without knowing anything at all about Orpheus and Eurycide we can start to decipher what might be happening. Why is the central figure looking behind her? What is she looking at? Has her gesture startled the fisherman? Are the others in the central group aware of what's happening? Who are all the figures in the background? If you know the story, these few details help you to piece together the story of Eurydice, fatally bitten by a snake whilst dancing with nymphs, and of her husband Orpheus, who's grief stricken playing on the harp is so beautiful as to move all nature and the universe.
Poussin's landscapes were carefully constructed to provide the space and backdrop for the story being told. Although based on the landscape drawings that we know he did, he used his imagination to create the perfect setting, appropriate for the figures he placed there. The mood of the landscape, the light, the dark, the colour of the skies, reflect and enhance the mood of the story. So, in a sense, Poussin's landscapes start with the figure.
The Cornfield
1826
John Constable
Constable is one of many landscape artists who's figures are the people who live and work in the places he paints. Here the nature of the place is described more deeply by the addition of the figures. Through our connection with the human lives depicted, we understand the landscape better. So here, the small boy drinking from the stream whilst his dog keeps his small flock moving, draws us into the life of a shepherd boy in a dusty lane on a hot summer's day. Beyond the gate we can see the labourers with scythes in the cornfield, shaded from the sun in their wide brimmed hats. Here the figures, who belong in and shape the landscape, add to our understanding of it.
Beach with Two Seated Women
Edvard Munch
1904
Munch is an artist who's figures have a symbiotic relationship with the landscape they inhabit. Here the women seem consumed by the dark swoop of the shoreline and the cold evening light. Does the mood of the landscape, it's sombre colours, heavy brushtrokes and sense of forboding, tell us something about their mood, or is it rather that their mood is coloured by the gloom of the landscape? We often (usually?) respond emotionally to landscape and struggle to convey that feeling. Does adding a human help to make that emotional impact?
Saint Anton (Flat Light)
1996
Peter Doig
The tiny figures in Peter Doig's painting of the ski slopes reveal the vastness of the mountain and the vulnerability and smallness of us in the landscape. The miniscule human paraphernalia of ski lifts and wires look fragile and insignificant against the huge snowfields. To add a figure to a landscape adds scale and can point to the overwhelming magnitude of the natural world.
This is just a very short (!) survey of different ways in which adding a figure to a landscape can have a significant impact. Look at some more paintings and see what else you find!
And even better, sign up for Julian's course this summer and explore this fascinating subject your self.
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