{"id":440,"date":"2026-03-15T16:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/?p=440"},"modified":"2026-03-15T16:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:56:38","slug":"research-task-2-1-a-mind-map-of-landscape-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/research-task-2-1-a-mind-map-of-landscape-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Task 2.1: A Mind Map of Landscape Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Exercise Prompt<\/summary>\n
Looking at different art from different eras can be overwhelming. As a practitioner, it is good to develop an understanding about how artists and art works relate to one another. In written art histories this is usually done chronologically. That\u2019s fine, but artists aren\u2019t historians and often cherry pick from all eras - often ignoring or rebelling against the immediate past. Developing a thematic understanding of art practice - that is, one that focuses on similarity without dwelling too much on the perceived narrative of history - is useful. This research task allows you to investigate and show how landscape artists from D\u00fcrer onwards inter-relate by making a mind-map. This is a powerful research method\/tool that is worth remembering throughout your studies.<\/strong>

You may already be familiar with works by Albrecht D\u00fcrer, Rosa Bonheur, Oscar-Claude Monet, Paul C\u00e9zanne, Dora Carrington and Helen Frankenthaler.

Look also at work by Joan Eardley, John Virtue, Tacita Dean, Vilja Celmins and other younger artists working today.

For example, visit Nicholas Herbert\u2019s website<\/a>, and the series of drawings of the Chiltern Hills in particular.

We often think of the landscape as being rural - the countryside, in other words - but many artists use the urban, or suburban, as their subject. These, too, can be considered part of the landscape tradition. L.S. Lowry\u2019s images of Salford industrial life arguably show a more honest landscape than idealised fields and rivers, as that\u2019s where the mass of people lived at that time. Today we have George Shaw, who shows us the reality of an urban environment and Sarah Woodfine, who takes an imaginative approach to drawing spaces and places. 

Research historic and contemporary artists who work in, or represent, the landscape and put their names on post-it notes or index cards.<\/strong> Do your best to find at least twenty artists dating from D\u00fcrer to the present day. Now arrange these on a large sheet of paper. Where they go in relation to one another doesn\u2019t matter at the moment, the point is to see the names on a field, rather than on a list. 

Start to think about how these artists might be related. What makes them similar? Subject matter? Technique? Use of line? You might, for example, put Brueghel with Lowry as both are concerned with populating the landscape with people while Lowry and Shaw show urban Britain. As you work - making and searching for links - stick the cards down and draw lines between them, connecting people or work you feel belongs together. Write notes on the lines to help you capture the knowledge you\u2019re generating.<\/strong> 

Mind-maps are great ways of collecting and collating information that is hard to arrange in list or narrative form. The \u2018map\u2019 format - particularly appropriate in a section concerned with landscape - can reveal \u2018neighbourhoods\u2019 and connections that might be lost if you undertook a chronological survey of the artists you\u2019ve looked at. It can also reveal gaps in knowledge.<\/pre>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n
The task<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
The exercise asked me to research landscape artists from D\u00fcrer to the present day, identify at least twenty works, and arrange them into a mind-map organised by thematic connection rather than chronology. The point was to develop a relational understanding of art practice to see how artists across different eras and traditions speak to each other rather than defaulting to a linear historical survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I Did<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I assembled 26 works spanning from Altdorfer’s\u00a0Danube Landscape<\/em>\u00a0(c.1522) to Nicholas Herbert’s\u00a0Landscape L965<\/em>(2016), organising them around ten thematic clusters: Houses, Ponds, Pools and Harbours, Trees, Rivers, Sea, Mountain, Abstracted, Fields, Roads & Pathways, and People & Animals. I drew connections across clusters rather than within them. Turner’s\u00a0Norham Castle<\/em>\u00a0represents the sea but connects to Frankenthaler’s\u00a0Mountains and Sea<\/em>\u00a0through abstraction. Bruegel’s\u00a0Hunters in the Snow<\/em>\u00a0connects to Lowry’s\u00a0Industrial Landscape<\/em>\u00a0through the relationship between figures and their environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The research process itself was generative. Researching Rosa Bonheur, I thought that Chamois<\/em> could quality as a landscape painting since it was very similar to Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog<\/em>. The exercise also made me think about the urban and suburban tradition: Hopper’s Gas<\/em> and Pissarro’s Boulevard Montmartre at Night<\/em> both sit in Roads & Pathways alongside Lowry. This made me reflect on natural vs. artificial landscapes and led me to include a photograph by Richard Long as a reminder of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Landscape Mind-Map \u2014 Artwork Reference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Wanderer above the Sea of Fog<\/em><\/strong>, Caspar David Friedrich, 1818. Oil on canvas, 94.8 \u00d7 74.8 cm. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The Hunters in the Snow<\/em><\/strong>, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565. Oil on panel, 117 \u00d7 162 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. A Bigger Splash<\/em><\/strong>, David Hockney, 1967. Acrylic on canvas, 242.5 \u00d7 243.9 cm. Tate Britain, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Mont Sainte-Victoire<\/em><\/strong>, Paul C\u00e9zanne, 1902\u201306. Oil on canvas, 65 \u00d7 81 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The Hay Wain, John Constable<\/em><\/strong>, 1821. Oil on canvas, 130.2 \u00d7 185.4 cm. National Gallery, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Houses at L\u2019Estaque<\/em><\/strong>, Georges Braque, 1908. Oil on canvas, 73 \u00d7 60 cm. Kunstmuseum Bern. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Water Lilies (Agapanthus triptych)<\/em><\/strong>, Claude Monet, 1915\u201326. Oil on canvas, each panel approx. 200 \u00d7 425 cm. Cleveland Museum of Art \/ St. Louis Art Museum \/ Nelson-Atkins Museum. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Danube Landscape near Regensburg<\/em><\/strong>, Albrecht Altdorfer, c.1522\u201325. Oil on panel, 30.5 \u00d7 22.2 cm. Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Open Window, Collioure<\/em><\/strong>, Henri Matisse, 1905. Oil on canvas, 55.3 \u00d7 46 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. View of the Arco Valley<\/em><\/strong>, Albrecht D\u00fcrer, 1495. Watercolour and gouache, 22.1 \u00d7 22.1 cm. Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, Paris. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Norham Castle, Sunrise<\/em><\/strong>, J.M.W. Turner, c.1845. Oil on canvas, 90.8 \u00d7 121.9 cm. Tate Britain, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. Chamois, Rosa Bonheur<\/em><\/strong>, 1888. Oil on canvas. Nature in Art Museum, Gloucestershire. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. Mountains and Sea<\/em><\/strong>, Helen Frankenthaler, 1952. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 220 \u00d7 297.8 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx<\/em><\/strong>, Joachim Patinir, c.1520\u201324. Oil on panel, 64 \u00d7 103 cm. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. Ponds and Streams<\/em><\/strong>, Wayne Thiebaud, 2001. Oil on canvas, 183 \u00d7 152 cm. de Young Museum, San Francisco. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  16. The Sea of Ice (Wreck of Hope),<\/em><\/strong> Caspar David Friedrich, 1823\u201324. Oil on canvas, 96.7 \u00d7 126.9 cm. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  17. The Harvesters<\/em><\/strong>, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1565. Oil on panel, 119 \u00d7 162 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  18. Boulevard Montmartre at Night<\/em><\/strong>, Camille Pissarro, 1897. Oil on canvas, 53.3 \u00d7 64.8 cm. National Gallery, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  19. Souvenir of Mortefontaine<\/em><\/strong>, Camille Corot, 1864. Oil on canvas, 65 \u00d7 89 cm. Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, Paris. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  20. Farm at Watendlath<\/em><\/strong>, Dora Carrington, 1921. Oil on canvas, 62.2 \u00d7 74.9 cm. Tate Britain, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  21. Gas<\/em><\/strong>, Edward Hopper, 1940. Oil on canvas, 66.7 \u00d7 102.2 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  22. Bigger Trees Near Warter<\/em><\/strong>, David Hockney, 2007. Oil on 50 canvases, 457.2 \u00d7 1220 cm. Tate Britain, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  23. Thermal<\/em><\/strong>, Peter Lanyon, 1960. Oil on canvas, 152.4 \u00d7 91.4 cm. Tate Britain, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  24. A Line Made by Walking<\/em><\/strong>, Richard Long, 1967. Photograph, 37.5 \u00d7 32.4 cm. Tate Britain, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  25. Industrial Landscape<\/em><\/strong>, L.S. Lowry, 1955. Oil on canvas, 114.9 \u00d7 154.9 cm. Tate Britain, London. Image<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  26. Landscape L965<\/em><\/strong>, Nicholas Herbert, 2016\u201319. Graphite, colour pencil, soluble crayon, acrylic and pastel on paper, 20 \u00d7 15 cm. Artist\u2019s collection. Image<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    Reflections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    The map works well at connecting across eras. I focused on subject matter and it made me reconsider what a landscape painting can be and what it can contain (or not). It was interesting to realise how the elements could be introduced in different ways (water for example) and the man-made vs. natural aspects of landscaping. It will remain a useful point of reference for the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    I couldn’t fit in all the artists and note that I still need to explore work by Joan Eardley, John Virtue, George Shaw and Sarah Woodfine. Some of my “clusters” were thinner than others (e.g., the People & Animals category). I could also revisit this to create another map with the same artworks but focussing instead on technique or the use of lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    The task The exercise asked me to research landscape artists from D\u00fcrer to the present day, identify at least twenty works, and arrange them into a mind-map organised by thematic connection rather than chronology. The point was to develop a relational understanding of art practice to see how artists across different eras and traditions speak […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coursework","category-project-2","category-research-reflection","has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mind-map-featured-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions\/487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaelle-artstudio.com\/plog2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}