Snowflakes

Here’s an enigma. How do you paint white snowflakes on white paper or canvas? Artists young and old have struggled with this challenge for ages.

I’m fascinated by their approaches and have collected snow scenes over the years. A few are from art galleries but most are magazine pictures, postcards, greeting cards, photographs and children’s art.

I also have a fascinating book on the topic of painting snow entitled “Impressionists in Winter”. Although most associated with sunlight, waterlilies and fair days, the Impressionists did paint wintry scenes with their gray, snowy skies. The winters of 1879-80 and 1890-1891 were unusually severe in France, and the artists recorded the rare conditions with their paintbrushes. Monet, Sisley and Pissarro were especially dedicated to capturing winter light.

Many of you who are reading this live in places that have no snow or where the first signs of spring are breaking out. We in the upper midwest are still in winter’s embrace. And, despite the miseries that freezing temperatures, snow-packed roads and blowing winds can bring, snow remains a magical thing. For me, the best snow days are those when big flakes drift down lazily from a perfectly still, quiet sky.

Here are pictures from my collection of the many ways artists solved the problem of capturing those elusive snowflakes on paper, canvas, and film.