Contemporary Landscape Painting – 30 Artists Worthy of Your Attention

Landscape painting is still popular in contemporary art: while initially it was associated with magnificent paintings of mountains and valleys, nowadays, such paintings can be more varied and creative.
In the year, contemporary landscape painting, as shown by Artsy, has undergone a new surge, where it was established that it had received a 20% boost in terms of searches and sales in the market. Outdoor-themed exhibitions have recorded an average of a 15% increment in turnout, not excluding the fact that the public has developed a renewed appreciation for this form of art.

contemporary landscape painting

June 6, 2024

Daryna Markova

contributor DOM Art Residence

Contemporary landscape painting has its roots in prehistoric art although the craze was not quite popular up until the Renaissance period, where we find artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Durer. Painting developed over movements like Romanticism and Impressionism and by painters like Turner and Monet to express emotional avenues.
Instead of being a mere illustration of a scene, landscape art has evolved into current art. The artists explore the possibilities in geometric forms, primary hues, and such techniques as collages to convey the effects of natural landscapes. Their artwork often deals with such issues as environmental awareness, the notion of the sublime, and man’s relation to the land.

It’s high time to discover 30 contemporary landscape artists, who work in the field of landscape art but recreate it in their works with the elements of postmodernism.

David Hockney has been an important artist in the postmodern art world. He embarked on a creative journey that would help revolutionize the art world. The ''Yorkshire Landscapes'' series by David Hockney can be regarded as a significant contribution to contemporary landscape art.
Pieces such as "Winter Timber" and "Bigger Trees Near Warter" indicate his ability to shape as well as develop the English landscape in a highly descriptive and emotionally simplified manner.

In his 2012 series ''A Bigger Picture'' at the Royal Academy of Arts, Hockney presented more than fifty iPad drawings that look like they were made on paper, which shows not just a remarkable outcome of his continued practice but also a renewing approach to the tradition of contemporary landscape painting.

Such a significant and popular painter as Wayne Thiebaud, who is famous for his full-of-vivid-color still lifes of cakes and pies, contributed to the development of contemporary landscape art to a great extent. His pieces range from multidisciplinary to vessel-based, which reflects his extensive art career.
The public originally admired him for painting ordinary and familiar things in a new way. His landscapes often have cartoonish, distorted views and bright accented colors, which add an element of weirdness to representations of California territories. Including ''River and Farms'' and ''Flatland River", his realistic and recognizable paintings are like other-worldly dreams. Thiebaud's artwork, such as ''San Francisco West Side Ridge'' and ''City Edge", depicts well his prowess in the use of angles and geometry.

Richard Diebenkorn is one of the most bright American painters who worked in the middle of the twentieth century. Diebenkorn’s transition starts as the traditional abstract expressionist artist and then switches his focus towards doing more figurative art, transitioning to a middle ground where he was able to blend both abstract art and identifiable figures.
The ''Ocean Park Paintings'' perhaps make up the final collection that Diebenkorn painted before he died. Some of them are known as the Ocean Park Series; this is a series of over 140 paintings created between 1967 and 1988 that depict the coastal neighborhood of Ocean Park in Santa Monica, California.

Francis Alÿs is an artist of the generation who is often associated with a complex, multifaceted approach to landscape painting. The artist is famous for his investigations of ‘political realities’ and ‘social issues’ portrayed through the realistic landscape of cities and natural environments.
In a major installation work, "Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing", the artist created a ''performance sculptural action" where, in Mexico City, the artist was seen pushing a block of ice in the streets until it would melt.

Although Doig has painted mainly Canadian landscapes, the variety of life experiences that he enjoys, including living in Trinidad, Canada, and London. His often depicted scenes are otherworldly or timeless, painting landscapes delineated by the chaos of nature and concrete jungles.
Probably the most pictorial of the works being discussed here is "Canoe Lake" painted in 1997, depicting a single canoe gliding on the waters of a still lake. Another exemplary work is ''The Architect’s Home in the Ravine'' (1991), in which Pobyeda portrayed a modernist house located in the middle of a lush and dense forest.

Well-known for his strong-souled paintings, Ghenie combines the concepts of abstraction and realistic drawing. Ghenie’s subjects are composed in the context of the painted lands on which characters exist as figures or representations of one’s story.
In ''Pie Fight Interior'' (2013) as well as ''The Storm'' (2014), the artist constructs a cover that can be considered both symbolic and historical at the same time, painting the trauma of the twentieth century.
His works always contain such symbols as a tree, a mountain, or water. The seven-meter-long painting titled "Study for the End of Civilization" (2009) seems to depict that the landscape is sinking into a state of anarchy, due to which human civilization is frail and shaky.
This theme continues in ''The Devil'' (2011) when the concept of the landscape represents the background to the historical and social phenomena that erased identity.

Adam Bogusz, an Australian painter, deals with contemporary artworks that entail fine art realistic paintings combined with imaginary features in a boring landscape design. As a virtual gallery of Bogusz’s work, the viewer is introduced to a series of playful color choices, a series of kinetic and dynamic compositions that make even an ordinary scene feel surreal.

David Crosby is not a landscape painter, or at least he became one only later in his painting career. He is still better known as a musician, singer, and songwriter, as well as a member of the Byrds and the group CSN.
Although it is safe to say that most of the audience will not readily consider David Crosby as a landscape artist, his ideas and artistry unequivocally enrich the cultural panorama. In his work, he has provided an acoustic picture of different moods and feelings, from the warm, sunny summer of California to the hard-core, realistic view of American cities.

Lynne Douglas is a relatively young artist who has recently entered the world of modern art but has already attracted great attention to herself. Lynne grew up in the countryside, and she always had a strong bond with the land and the physical environment.
One of her notable pieces is “Reflections”, a painting that captures the interplay between light and shadow, inviting viewers to contemplate the layers of meaning within the image. Another noteworthy work is "Serenity," which portrays a tranquil landscape bathed in soft, ethereal light, evoking a sense of calm and introspection.

Camilla Engström is one of the most promising and talented artists in the contemporary art world. Her work often features stylized interpretations of nature, merging fantasy with reality. Engström’s paintings, such as "Happy Hills" and "Sunset Paradise," bring a sense of joy and imagination to the landscape genre.
Another beloved creation is "Kawaii Shark", a character that combines the fierceness of a shark with the cuteness of kawaii culture.

Daisy Dodd-Noble is a living British artist who is famous for her contemporary landscape paintings that have realistic elements of artwork combined with an abstract tinge. She grew up in a rural area of England, and this possibly reflects her love for the artifacts of nature through her paintings that deal with memories, self, and time.
Dodd-Noble’s work, including pieces like "Autumn Light" and "Fields of Gold," captures the changing seasons and the timeless beauty of rural landscapes.

Often the works of Vija Celmins, one of the distinguished contemporary artists, refer to such phenomena of the natural world as the sea, the desert, and the sky at night, and they reflect Celmins’ perception of the given objects. Certainly one of the best-known cycles of the artist is "Ocean.”
Celmins has also made prominent drawings of the night sky. Contemporary artworks like “Night Sky #17” made in 1998, are a combination of stars, planets, and galaxies that are made using graphite on paper.

April Gornik has had several series, one of the most popular is possibly the ''Sky'' painting, which represents the ever-changing story of something as simple as the sky and its influence on the rest of the scenery below.
Her large-scale paintings, like "Storm Passing" and "Lake Light," are characterized by their luminous quality and dramatic use of light. Gornik’s famous work captures the sublime beauty of nature, offering a meditative experience for viewers.

The prominent Danish artists who best embodied modern landscape painting. Described as balancing the elements of abstraction and representation, Kirkeby exists as one of the significant proponents of postmodernism, with his works addressing nature, history, and the human mind.
His work often features rich textures and earthy tones, reflecting his background in geology. Kirkeby’s paintings, such as "Forest Floor" and "Mountain Range", explore the dynamic processes that shape the natural world.

The next artist we have is Julie Mehretu best described as a painter in the 21st century, her specializations are in the landscape where she has created a niche for herself, her works depict mapping, architecture, and nature. The concepts of ''Black City'' and ''Mural'' of Mehretu’s works are evocative as they force observers into thinking about the connections of the landscapes.

Natalia Baykalova is a modern innate landscape painter, and her paintings are eager to catch the attention of art lovers with their outstanding outlooks on the world. Generally, her works of art reflect beautiful ramps and nature scenes with energy and a force of movement.
As for examples, one can meet the author’s creative work like "Sunlit Forest'' and ''Golden Fields'' which pave the way to the imagery of the biosphere and its capacity.

The most attractive element of Sara Roberts’s works is that her landscapes are slightly realistic and slightly abstract at the same time. In her series, one may capture calm images of water and the sky dominating his/her attention, painted with a certain haze.
Even small, unremarkable pieces, such as Roberts’s "Evening Glow'' and ''Misty Morning'', give the viewer an idea of comfort and calm.

Zohar Flax is a contemporary landscape painter with a painting style that could be defined as quite classical yet belonging to the modern art world. She is inspired by the high-tech aesthetics of contemporary art, painting with talent and creating amazing paintings that describe nature.
Her often grand, subtle images employ abstraction while still invoking a sense of truthful representation rather than depicting the specific form of the landscape. Specifically, Flax’s works like “Sunset Reflections'' and ''Autumn Leaves'' are meant to create vivid emotions evoked out of nature.

Madeleine Bialke is widely believed to be one of the most talented painters in contemporary landscape art. Bialke has painted and dried both coastal scenery and peaceful countryside. This work gives the viewer a chance to explore Madeleine Bialke’s recent contemporary landscapes, which are defined by an intense field of color and shape.
Much of her work paints highly imaginative perspectives of nature, with some influential alteration between the actual and the imaginary. Two pieces of work, "Enchanted Forest" and "Dressmescapes" take a creative approach to the idea of the landscape genre.

The distinctive painting style of Amy Lincoln reflects a realistic view of the modern world – the painting is filled with bright colors and stylized shapes. Many of her pieces depict realistic representations of living things in rather playful ways since the objects are more conventionally realistic but the characters are set in an environment seen as fanciful by most viewers.
Through her works like ''Magic Garden'' and ''Rainbow Trees'', Lincoln captures the element of fun in various aspects of nature.

Andrii Kovalyk is one of the young and gifted Ukrainian artists, working in the sphere of contemporary landscape painting. He is a Carpathian painter, he was raised in the Carpathian Mountains, which gave him insight into the strength of natural landscapes.
Amongst Kovalyk’s most well-known painting series, there is a collection called ''Mountain Reverie'' where the main theme portrays the majesty of the Carpathian Mountains. These paintings, drawn, for instance, from ''Majestic Peaks'' and ''Twilight Vista'' can be regarded as a calltor wonder as the artist leads the viewers into the beauty of the mountainous terrain.

Oleyn is the artist typifying the modern contours of nature and providing calm emotions through abstract realist representations. Lyrical and expressive qualities by Dmitry Oleyn and the use of vibrant paints are characteristic of his landscapes.
He loves to depict complicated shapes in dynamic positions; many of his works depict forces in action, especially forces of nature. Some examples include Oleyn’s paintings like ''Windy Day'' and ''Flowing River'' which added a new dimension of liveliness to straight, flat, and broad landscape paintings.

Felix Burgos is a Spanish painter famous for combining realism and abstraction in his paintings of tropical landscapes. The chief theme in his work has been drawn from the subject matter, and he has a penchant for illuminating light, color variations, and textures.
Pivotal to Felix Burgos’s contemporary landscapes is an amalgam of rich textural qualities and earthy hues. His paintings often involve rocky landscapes and natural features, painted in a more or less realistic manner at a rather elaborate level. In the same manner, as in ''Rocky Shore'' and ''Desert Dunes'', Burgos’s oils evoke the sheer primal power of natural forms.

David Ambarzumjan is a painter who belongs to the present day and is Armenian. In these works, he transposes ideas from the geographic realm of Germany, his native land, or his global journey to be able to create works that make it possible for people to be lost in the natural aesthetic of works.
David Ambarzumjan also explores the landscape as a genre, with realistic views and elements of fantasy. This author incorporates surrealism into his work, especially when illustrating aspects of nature that are combined with a touch of the fantastic. Recuperating and reconstructing meanings from the production of Ambarzumjan’s paintings like ''Cosmic Bloom'' and ''Parallel Universe'', one is tempted to broaden the horizons of the landscape genre.

Bhavna Misra is a contemporary Indian painter who is best known for practicing the art of landscape paintings, and more than that, she is a well-known painter of Indian art that focuses on painting the tranquility of nature. Born in Odisha, Bhavna Misra’s contemporary landscapes now have vivid hues and are slightly more stylized; with more free-flowing shapes.
They are familiar scenes of nature, portrayed in a certain language and with an active rhythm. Some of Misra’s paintings are named “Dancing Trees” and “Flowing Waters”, and they are magnificent in showing the activity of nature.

Known as the international Keith Herring, Smith was born in 1976 in Canada, and throughout his artistry, he has absently or passionately explored such complexities as light, color, and kinetics. The vivid colors and geometrical shapes in Blu Smith’s landscape paintings develop a powerful energy of avant-garde.
He is passionate about his execution, and his paintings perfectly embody aliveness in this brave new world. Landscape painting is typically characterized by the depiction of various terrains, and Smith’s ''Electric Sky'' and ''Radiant Fields'' added a shift in the dynamics.

Hailing from Wroclaw, Poland, Luiza Niechoda is approximately thirty years of age. Contemporary landscapes by Luiza Niechoda are well-minuted by the minimalistic arrangement of elements as well as the low contrast between colors.
Many of the pieces she created are expressions of tranquility and relaxation in nature through the simplicity and sophistication of neo-classical style. Niechoda’s paintings, ''Quiet River'', which is a still life painting, and ''Soft Light'', which portrays a woman with a headscarf, give off a calming feeling.

Rachael Cassiani is a contemporary landscape artist who is highly successful and passionate about portraying the inherent beauty of nature. Cassiani started painting at the age of 17, the same year that she finished high school.
The following conversation is indicative of the modern and dynamic approach to painting: Rachael Cassiani is known for her expressive brushstrokes and the richness of the color used in her latest works, which depict landscapes.
One common theme in her pieces is the use of dynamic space, which provides a sense of energy or motion within her pieces or works deriving from nature. Lither, Cassiani’s pieces, including ''Wildflower Meadow'' and ''Stormy Seas'' contribute a youthful feeling to the otherwise traditional art of landscape paintings.

Etel Adnan occupies a unique place among contemporary painters who work in the genre of landscape. The Lebanese artist has devoted her work to a continual search for the relationship between color, shape, and feeling.
Contemporary landscape art by Etel Adnan is emphatic in its use of colors and forms, which are quite hard to call figurative. She pursues realism, distilling the causes of the flora and fauna into simple geometric forms and proportions. Two of Adnan’s paintings that can be discussed are ''Mount Tamalpais'' and ''Sunset in the Mountains'' and all of them are themed around the tranquility of the countryside.

A modern Spanish painter focusing on landscapes where he can be closely related to the works of nature, strong tones, unity of mass and density, and impressive affectation. Some of the paintings that were painted by Francisco Palomares include landscapes, and the characteristic features of his works include the brightness of the colors used as well as the constructions depicted.
The primary subject throughout most of his pieces includes scenes of urban as well as rural areas, and he paints in a realistic, three-dimensional manner. As is seen in Palomares’s paintings ''City Park'' and ''Countryside Vista'', the artist seeks to depict the various distinct terrains in today’s world.

The act of painting landscapes in the contemporary era is quite dynamic and active, as there are always new ideas being added to the field of art. While the leading characters are not afraid to experiment with daring hues like the famous British artist David Hockney, there are also pieces by Andrii Kovalyk, who depicts calm and measured compositions. Whether capturing the glory of the natural world, the footprint that society has left on it, or the harmony between the pondered up and the dreamt up, they challenge us to always strive to be how they have seen the world.