Luis Giner Bueno

Giner Bueno, born 1935 in Godella (a town along the Valencian coast), defines himself as a painter of vitality. Bueno received his passion for painting from his father, Luis Giner Vallas, who was a distinguished landscape painter backed by prestigious awards and exhibitions in important art galleries. At the age of 12, Bueno was given watercolors and oil paints so that he could join his father and his friends while they painted. “It never occurred to me to spend my time doing other activities which could take my attention away from painting,” says Bueno. Bueno became an exceptional impressionist himself. His talent matured as a student at the Valencia Arts and Crafts school, and he later moved to Paris to further his training through an education and leisure grant. Even with his years of educational training, Bueno still says, “The school where I learned was my home, so many of my years of training – a considerable number of them – were spent painting and even more importantly, watching someone paint.” During his earlier years, Bueno exhibited his work in leading Spanish painting contests and received numerous awards including first prize from the Moncada (Valencia) Biannual Painting Contest in 1956 and the Seville Real Maestranza de Caballeria award in 1968. Today, all of Bueno’s influences can be seen from his Godella studio, which is situated above his house overlooking a garden. He notes, “It is difficult for a Valencian painter to escape the luminosity of our land, to escape its color and its contrasts. I am captive of all that and in my paintings, I try to reflect, within the Impressionistic school, the joy of our beaches, of our festivals and the life of the villages in the interior of our arid and rugged Valencia.” Bueno reflects the daily diversity of beauty in his countryside’s natural light and color through sweeping brushstrokes of pinks, purples and blues, “My brushstroke is vibrant, nervous, temperamental, always impregnated with the Valencian school that defines the authentic and true masters such as Sorolla, Pinazo or Navarro, for example.” Viewers of Bueno’s canvases are presented with a wonderfully unique look at Spanish coastal life. His plein-air paintings reflect a vast variety of subjects. He renders images of everyday working-class fishermen, peaceful seascapes, and women wearing traditional dresses keeping a watchful eye on the children at the beach or at the market. Chief-Editor and art critic of El Periodico de Catalunya newspaper in Spain, Josep Cadena notes, “The paintings of Giner Bueno allow us to identify with that which is undying in the human personality, with that which, being so intimate, we frequently do not dare draw attention to, and with that which in his paintings we reclaim with obvious pleasure.” The phenomenal way Giner Bueno depicts the simplistic Mediterranean life truly has earned him the right to be called one of Spain’s most distinguished masters of impressionism. He has participated in over 50 shows throughout Europe and regularly exhibits at the Sala Llorens in Barcelona and the Sala Ingres in Madrid and his paintings have been featured in Spanish galleries in Valencia, Castellón, Vitoria, Gijon and Gerón. Today, his work is featured in leading galleries in the United States, thus giving him international recognition.

It could be argued that cave walls were the canvases for the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict and elevate natural scenery through art, but there is a richer history to consider.

The Netherlands was home to landscapes as a major theme in painting as early as the 1500s, and ink-on-silk paintings in China featured mountains and large bodies of water as far back as the third century. Greeks created vast wall paintings that depicted landscapes and grandiose garden scenes, while in the late 15th century and early 16th century, landscapes were increasingly the subject of watercolor works by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo.

The popularity of religious paintings eventually declined altogether, and by the early 19th century, painters of classical landscapes took to painting out-of-doors (plein-air painting). Paintings of natural scenery were increasingly realistic but romanticized too. Into the 20th century, landscapes remained a major theme for many artists, and while the term “landscape painting” may call to mind images of lush, grassy fields and open seascapes, the genre is characterized by more variety, colors and diverse styles than you may think. Painters working in the photorealist style of landscape painting, for example, seek to create works so lifelike that you may confuse their paint for camera pixels. But if you’re shopping for art to outfit an important room, the work needs to be something with a bit of gravitas (and the right frame is important, too).

Adding a landscape painting to your home can introduce peace and serenity within the confines of your own space. (Some may think of it as an aspirational window of sorts rather than a canvas.) Abstract landscape paintings by the likes of Korean painter Seungyoon Choi or Georgia-based artist Katherine Sandoz, on the other hand, bring pops of color and movement into a room. These landscapes refuse to serve as a background. Elsewhere, Adam Straus’s technology-inspired paintings highlight how our extreme involvement with our devices has removed us from the glory of the world around us. Influenced by modern life and steeped in social commentary, Straus’s landscape paintings make us see our surroundings anew.

Whether you’re seeking works by the world’s most notable names or those authored by underground legends, find a vast collection of landscape paintings on 1stDibs.