An Unforgotten Landscape
I’ve been to visit the Minneapolis Institute of Arts a number of times now. I do love to bring friends and dates to the museum, but when if I really want to spend time with the art, I go alone. Everything is quickly rotating and it seems I direct my focus to something different each time, so every experience is unique.
Almost every visit, however, I find my way back to my favorite painting for a few minutes: Pastoral Landscape by Claude Lorrain.

It’s a masterpiece, having been preserved extremely well in the collection of the Earls of Leitrim for the last few hundred years until finding its home at MIA. The painting feels nostalgic as it depicts people on the bay living a simple, arcadian life. It almost pulls the viewer into the world, allowing you to imagine a degree of freedom and attractive simplicity.
The other eye-catching component is the way Lorrain uses light. The bright background gently cascades along the rest of the landscape, highlighting the trees and everything in the foreground, but naturally fading out the backdrop. This makes the painting feel expansive and grand, creating a much larger atmosphere than one typically gets in a landscape work, even of a similar caliber.
Both the nostalgic simplicity and the grandeur of the light pull you into the work, which has led this piece to become almost ritualistic for me when I visit the MIA. Experiencing new art can be difficult and even draining, but spending time with Pastoral Landscape always allows me to ‘reset.’ I feel transported to another world and each time appreciate the emotional effect a work of art can have on a person. The painting lets me breathe and reminds me what a great experience looking at art can be.
