En plein air is a French expression
which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe
the act of painting in
the outside environment rather than indoors (such as in a studio ).
In English alfresco has the same meaning, however in Italian the
term al fresco has a rather different one, either in
jail or simply cool air .
Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid- 1800s working
in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon
school and Impressionism .
The popularity of painting en plein air increased with introduction
in the 1870s of paints
in tubes (resembling
modern toothpaste tubes).
Previously, each painter made their own paints by grinding and mixing
dry pigment powders
with linseed oil .
The Newlyn School in
England is considered another major location of such painting in the
latter 19th century.
French impressionist painters
such as Claude
Monet , Camille
Pissarro , and Pierre-Auguste
Renoir advocated en plein air painting, and much of
their work was done outdoors. American
Impressionists , too, such as of the Old
Lyme school, were avid painters en plein air .
In the second half of 19th
century and beginning of the 20th
century in Russia ,
painters such as Vasily
Polenov , Isaac
Levitan , Valentin
Serov , K.A.
Korovin and I.E.
Grabar were known for painting en plein air .
The popularity of outdoor painting has remained constant throughout
the 20th century and
into the 21st century .
San Diego venture capitalist Kevin Kinsella (of Avalon Ventures) has
acquired one of the largest collections of California inspired Plein
Air art.
