En plein air

En plein air (French pronunciation: ​, French for outdoors, or plein air painting) is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look.En plein air painter on the Côte d'Argent in Hourtin, FranceArtist working en plein air, using a Pochade box at Pigeon Point Lighthouse in California.En plein air painters painting in Ringwood, New Jersey. Artists are using a French easel on the left of picture, and a Pochade box on the right.Winslow Homer, Artists Sketching in the White Mountains, 1868, oil on panel, 24.1 × 40.3 cm, Portland Museum of ArtCamille Pissarro, 1872, Hameau aux environs de Pontoise, oil on canvas, 54 × 74 cm, private collectionHenri Biva, c.1905–06, Matin à Villeneuve (From Waters Edge), oil on canvas, 151.1 × 125.1 cmClaude Monet, 1887, In the Woods at Giverny, Blanche Hoschedé Monet at Her Easel with Suzanne Hoschedé Reading, oil on canvas, 91.4 x 97.7 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of ArtPierre-Auguste Renoir, c.1888-89 Mount of Sainte-Victoire, oil on canvas, 53 x 64.1 cm, Yale University Art GalleryPaul Cézanne, c.1897, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue de la carrière Bibémus, oil on canvas, 65.1 × 81.3 cm, Baltimore Museum of ArtPainting Cézanne's mountain > Montagne Sainte-Victoire with walkthearts En plein air (French pronunciation: ​, French for outdoors, or plein air painting) is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century, working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school, Hudson River School, and Impressionists. In 1830, the Barbizon School in France, inspired by John Constable, enabled artists like Charles-François Daubigny and Théodore Rousseau to more accurately depict the appearance of outdoor settings in various light and weather conditions. In the late 1800s, the en plein air approach was incorporated with the impressionists’ style, and artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Frédéric Bazille, and Edgar Degas began creating their work outdoors. From France, the movement expanded to America, starting in California then moving to other American locales notable for their natural light qualities, including the Hudson River Valley in New York. The Macchiaioli were a group of Italian painters active in Tuscany in the second half of the nineteenth century, who, breaking with the antiquated conventions taught by the Italian academies of art, did much of their painting outdoors in order to capture natural light, shade, and colour. This practice relates the Macchiaioli to the French Impressionists who came to prominence a few years later, although the Macchiaioli pursued somewhat different purposes. Their movement began in Florence in the late 1850s. The Newlyn School in England is considered another major proponent of the technique in the latter 19th century. The popularity of painting en plein air increased in the 1840s with the introduction of paints in tubes (like those for toothpaste). Previously, painters made their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil. The act of outdoor painting from observation has been continually popular well into the 21st century. It was during the mid-19th century that the 'box easel', typically known as the 'French box easel' or 'field easel', was invented. It is uncertain who developed it, but these highly portable easels with telescopic legs and built-in paint box and palette made it easier to go into the forest and up the hillsides. Still made today, they remain a popular choice (even for home use) since they fold up to the size of a brief case and thus are easy to store. The Pochade Box is a compact box that allows the artist to keep all their supplies and palette within the box and have the work on the inside of the lid. Some designs allow for a larger canvas which can be held by clamps built into the lid. There are designs which can also hold a few wet painting canvases or panels within the lid. These boxes have a rising popularity as while they are mainly used for plein air painting, can also be used in the studio, home, or classroom. Since pochade boxes are mainly used for painting on location, the canvas or work surface may be small, usually not more than 20 inches (50 cm). Challenges include the type of paint used to paint outdoors, animals, bugs, onlookers, and environmental conditions such as weather. Acrylic paint may harden and dry quickly in warm, sunny weather and it cannot be reused. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the challenge of painting in moist or damp conditions with precipitation. The advent of plein air painting predated the invention of acrylics. The traditional and well-established method of painting en plein air incorporates the use of oil paint.