Join us on Wednesday, February 17th at 2 p.m. for a fun filled session of Art Exploration Teen Edition, where we will learn even more about the art of trees!

Trees are all around us and provided an excellent source of inspiration. Continue to learn more about why trees captivate many artists and explore some famous paintings with trees.

Why Paint Trees? 

Trees are a common theme in art for many reasons, one being that it connects the artist to the world around them and allows them to interact with nature through an activity such as painting/art that is considered an inside activity. 

Trees have appeared in paintings, drawings, sculptures, and many other art mediums. We will explore a few artist’s renditions of trees. 

 

Oldest Paintings of Trees

The oldest paintings are cave paintings, but these paintings contain animals and people and rarely include plants. The UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Serra da Capivara National Park in northeast Brazil is different from any other cave paintings in the world, because  it contains drawings of plants.

You can see two people holding a tree.

Gustav Klimt

Artist Gustav Klimt who is known for adding gold and silver leaf to his paintings had a deep love for painting trees. He felt a connection with nature that can be seen in his many paintings that feature trees as the primary subject.

Birch Forest, 1903

The tree of life 1905

Spruce Forest II 1904 

Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh is known for painting beautiful and color blending artworks such as Starry Night but many of his paintings contained trees.

Undergrowth with Two Figures 1889

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun 1889

Paul Gauguin

Paul Gaugin was a French Post-Impressionist artist who was known for his use of color.

L’Allee des Alyscamps 1888

The large trees 1889

 Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrick was a german landscape painter known for his rich depictions of trees around abandoned ruins.

Cairn in snow 1807

Resources

If you enjoyed this glimpse into trees and would like to learn more join us for Art Exploration on February 17th at 2pm and follow along with a fun tree inspired art project. 

If you want to know more about trees and how to draw them, explore these fun titles.

Drawing trees: step by step by Stanley Maltzman

Trees by Allen J. Coombes 

Resource List: