Salt Marshes Andrew

Daniel Pollera was born in 1953 in the coastal town of Freeport, New York. His interest in art began at a very young age, gravitating toward drawing and painting the surrounding coastline of Long Island. After a short study at SUNY Farmingdale in commercial art, he left to enter the family business.

For almost 15 years, Daniel took a sabbatical from painting, but this didn’t affect his love for the sea. He obtained a captain’s license in 1977 from the United States Coast Guard and took passengers for hire on the open ocean. Through this experience and visual knowledge he was drawn to begin painting again. Although Daniel was primarily self-taught, he worked with Frances Norris Streit, a portrait and mural artist, assisting her on a 14’ x 30’ historical mural for the Roslyn Savings Bank. He also studied with Everett Molinari, a well-respected president of the National Society of Mural Painters. Museum collections include Long Island Museum, Parrish Art Museum, and Guild Hall Museum.

Daniel split his time between his home in East Quogue, Long Island, NY, and Baldwin Harbor, Long Island, NY. These two places offered him inspiration which was the catalyst for his work. “I look for a dramatic setting, filled with light to draw awareness to the image.” The light in his coastal scenes is most notable; people often say they wish they were there.

His work was recently featured in an episode of Treasures of New York on the media platform PBS station Thirteen, where he spoke about the significance of the unique Bay Houses of Long Island and why they are so often the subjects of his paintings.

"We are only passing through this lifetime of ours," Pollera said in reference to his work. "This is a revolving window of constant change and taking in the beauty from a visual perspective is fascinating and interesting; that is what fuels my passion. Living within close proximity to the salt marshes and shoreline has enabled me to capture a moment in time. I feel a deep connection with my subject and it constantly inspires me. I hope that I convey a feeling through my paintings that will be shared for generations and reflect our love for the local waters as they are today."

Daniel Pollera passed away in March of 2022.

Find original Daniel Pollera prints on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Sorelle Gallery)

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.