9 Springtime Paintings to Enjoy

There are many reasons to love spring. The returning flowers and leaves revive after the long dullness of winter, bringing new life and fresh possibilities.

Most painters have painted spring some time during their careers. Here’s how some of them expressed the hopefulness of this season!

Scottish Snowdrops

The Coming of Spring. 1899. Hornel

Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864 – 1933) was a Scottish painter, who was part of a group of Scottish painters called the Glasgow Boys. "The Coming of Spring" captures the thrill of several girls finding the first snowdrops. Note that there is no horizon in the painting; the forest glade seems to be an enclosed world of its own, uniting the girls, the white flowers, the bark, and the leftover dry leaves on the trees. Each is an integral part of the composition.

Spring Childhood Idyll

Carl Larsson (1853-1919) was a Swedish painter. He was known for his paintings of his family and their home. His wife was an artist in her own right; she was an interior designer responsible among others for creating a distinctive Swedish style. The quaint and simple cottage interiors seen in Carl Larsson’s paintings are her designs.

Crocuses. 1912. Carl Larsson

In this painting, a young girl looks outside the window, while a small vase of purple crocuses stands on the table next to her. The girl is dressed in the traditional Swedish national costume, complete with an apron and embroidered cap.

It’s no coincidence that many spring-themed paintings feature children, since spring was often seen as the childhood of the year.

A Room with a View

Stanislav Zhukovsky (1873–1944) was a Polish-Russian painter, best known for his landscapes. He was a student of the Jewish-Russian painter Isaac Levitan and later established his own studio in Moscow.

Spring. 1901. Stanislav Zhukovsky

In this painting, the artist has chosen an interesting perspective. It’s a spring landscape as seen from inside a room. The pot of spring flowers on the window sill adds to the fresh, almost festive mood of the painting. The deep purplish blue of the flowers echoes the blue sky at the top of the painting, while the white of the birches is matched by the white of the window frame. The painting condenses nature and human living into one joyful springtime impression. Although the trees are still bare, it looks like a good day to be alive, full of the promise of forthcoming blossoms and freshness.

Spring’s Promises

Jean-François Millet’s "Spring" is one of his most famous paintings. Millet (18140-1875) was one of the founders of the Barbizon school. He decided to live in the country, taking up farming and painting his beautiful landscapes and scenes from rural life. Millet was also one of the artists who influenced Van Gogh.

Spring. 1868-1873. Jean-François Millet

“Spring” portrays a serene orchard set against a brooding stormy sky. Nature in the painting is taken care of and lived in – note the traces of human habitation such as fences, a road, and distant rooftops. There’s even a farmer under one of the trees if you look close enough.

The sky over the orchard and the wind-tossed treetops in the background, however, remind the viewer that spring is not only the time of blossoms and budding new life, but also of destructive storms. The rainbow and the soaring white birds are inspiring touches that add a sense of hope that life will continue in spite of the storm, and that the farmer will reap a good harvest.

Persephone’s Daffodils

La Primavera. 1883. Walter Crane

Walter Crane (1845–1915) was a British painter and book illustrator. His “Primavera” (Italian for ‘spring’) depicts a young woman gathering daffodils in a beautiful landscape, framed by bluish mountains. It is a simplified, idealized landscape and the girl’s ancient Greek robes suggest that she’s a personification of spring instead of a real person. It possibly references Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring. According to myth, she had been gathering flowers when she was abducted by Hades into the underworld.

Urban Spring in Grey and Beige

Spring. Boulevard de la Madeleine in Paris, 1895. Frits Thaulow

Norwegian Impressionist Frits Thaulow portrays an early spring day in the city. The Boulevard de la Madeleine is an iconic landmark in Paris, and the painter shows it bustling with life. Seen from above, in bird’s-eye view, the landscape includes monumental city architecture in the foreground (the facade of the church of La Madeleine), but also tiny people going about their daily chores and trees budding into their first green leaves. The painting is a skillful study in subtle greys, browns, and beiges. The light green of the trees adds a beautiful touch of freshness and life to the urban view.

Gardener’s Spring

Norman Rockwell was an American illustrator, famous for his work for The Saturday Evening Post, Look, McCall’s, and Popular Science magazines.

Spring Flowers. 1969. Norman Rockwell

“Spring Flowers” was an illustration for McCall's, published in 1969. It illustrated an article on arranging spring flowers. The artist painted his wife Molly’s gardening utensils and sun hat, as well as an array of spring flowers heaped in a basket standing on an old chair. It’s almost like a portrait of the gardener without the gardener herself. A curious robin is seen standing on the threshold of the garden shed, and outside the door one can see a stone-paved path and the roof of a house.

Lilac Harmony

Arranging the lilac. 1906. Albert Chevallier Tayler

“Arranging the Lilac” by British painter Albert Chevallier Tayler (1862–1925) is a genre scene, showing two women arranging bunches of lilacs into bouquets. The simple interior and plain dresses of the women contrast with the lush luxuriousness of the lilacs. The painter uses hues of brown, grey, cream, beige, and light blue to enhance the beautiful purple of the flowers.

Spring as First Love

Springtime. 1873. Pierre-Auguste Cot

Painted in 1873, Pierre-Auguste Cot’s “Springtime” shows a young couple on a swing in a green glade. Painted in an academic style, this painting is very detailed, down to the daisy and irises by the stream. There are also two white butterflies hovering over the heads of the pair. The daisy likely symbolizes innocence and youth, while butterflies often symbolize fragility, possibly hinting at the fragile nature of first love. Butterflies were also often seen as a symbol of the soul, thus possibly suggesting the kinship of souls enjoyed by the couple. The painting, sometimes paired with The Storm by the same artist, was one of Cot’s biggest successes.

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