Florine Stettheimer was a prolific Modernist painter, often using family and friends as models. Marveling at her theatrical, color-washed images, photographer Carl Van Vechten said: “I must call this quality jazz”. Feminist Florine hosted an arty/literary salon at her home in New York, a haven for artists of all races, religions, and sexual orientations. Look closely at this image—don’t you just love the dark, starlit room, with the blazing tree? And luxuriating across the canvas, we see the gorgeous dark-haired Ettie, Florine’s intellectual younger sister.
2. Nature in Winter
The ruddy, chunky robin may be the usual star of the Christmas card birds. But just check out these goldfinches! This was painted by Swedish artist Bruno Liljefors, well known for his depictions of animals in nature. The dramatic cropping of the canvas is incredible—half is filled with the jewel-colored birds, feasting on thistle seed heads, the other half is the cool emptiness of a pale blue winter sky. It manages to be asymmetrical, otherworldly, and full of movement, whilst also being an incredibly realistic, natural portrait.
3. Firework Festival
Best known for his portraits of kabuki actors (Japanese classical theater), Yamamura Toyonari was a collaborative artist. He credited printers and woodblock carvers as part of the artistic process. Wintertime does involve a lot of dark evenings, so why not celebrate that with this bold fireworks display? At this time of year, Japan hosts a number of fire festivals, snow festivals, and lantern festivals. The art of fireworks in Japan is called hanabi, translating as “flower fire.” How lovely is that? Let’s revel in and celebrate this season!
4. Snowy Scene
We simply cannot look at winter paintings without including a snowy scene. The muted yet luminous touches of pearly colors used by English-French artist Alfred Sisley are simply marvelous. Our eye is drawn to the small, solitary figure in the soft, silent snowfall. Louveciennes is less than ten miles from Paris, and Sisley produced multiple paintings around this village in the 1870s. One of the founders of Impressionism, along with Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Sisley devoted himself to painting soft and harmonious landscapes in the open air.
5. Nativity
If you venture into the small Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy, you will see one of the most important examples of Western art in the world. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is covered in frescoes (wall paintings where pigment is added directly to wet plaster walls and ceilings). This is the beginning of a revolution in mural painting. One of these, Nativity, makes a perfect addition to our Christmas Holiday Cards collection. Breaking from older, stylized methods of medieval painting, the artist Giotto is setting the scene for the beginning of the Renaissance. In this celebrated image, we see naturalistic, realistic figures and human tenderness within the supernatural setting of the birth of Christ.
Did you have a favorite from this selection? The full collection of 10 cards from DailyArt showcases masterpieces spanning six centuries of painting. Each card tells a different story of winter through the eyes of great artists. From the serenity of snow to the wonder of festive lights, there is an image for everyone. Send them or save them, either way, you’re a Winter winner!
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