10 Winter Artworks
Barcelona woke up at 0°C today ❄ — the perfect moment to slow down and explore some different art themes while warm and cozy indoors. We were inspired to look for Winter-themed artworks, and so here we present you: 10 Winter Artworks (best enjoyed with a hot chocolate.)
Get ready for some hot winter pieces that capture frost, silence, warmth, and reflection.
Which artwork feels like winter to you?
1. Swiss Winters — Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé
Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé was a Russian-born landscape painter, celebrated for his luminous
winter and twilight scenes and later naturalized as a French citizen after emigrating to
Europe.
We love the pink hues, suggesting a frosty dawn, and making the snowflakes glisten like diamonds. Simple, clean and clinically executed.
2. The Sacred Bridge — Hasui Kawase
Kawase Hasui was a leading figure in the Shin-Hanga (“new prints”) movement in early
20th-century Japan, known for his atmospheric woodblock prints of landscapes and urban
scenes.
We love the contrast of the solid red bridge in the centre of the lighter hues. With the moody river flowing down in a beautiful complimentary blue where the shading adds depth and mystery.
3. Snowball Effect — David Hammons
David Hammons is an American conceptual and performance artist whose work often
critiques race, economics, and cultural institutions, notably including his 1983 “Bliz-aard
Ball Sale.”
This work was a street performance in 1983 in downtown Manhattan where the artist, Hammons laid out and sold perfectly round snowballs of varying sizes, pricing them like commodities.
It functioned both as a public performance and a critique of the art market, playing on the value we assign to objects (especially in contemporary art) and exposing how arbitrary that value can be.
With 2025’s outrage around the Maurizio Cattelan Banana debacle, this piece still resonates today. It’s funny and playful but has a serious message underneath.
4. Parisian Winter — Gustave Caillebotte
Gustave Caillebotte was a French painter associated with the Impressionists and was also a
major patron who used his inherited fortunes to financially support and organize several Impressionist exhibitions.
Its smokey, its gloomy. One almost feels like a pigeon seeking refuge under an ornate 19th century balcony looking across at the barren, sullen cityscape.
5. Goya’s Winter — Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya was a Spanish Romantic painter and printmaker who served as court painter
to the Spanish monarchy and is regarded as a bridge between the Old Masters and modern
art.
This is Goya at his peak, astutely communicating the human aspect with his meticulous portrayal of body language and the inclusion of the cute little black and white doggy further drawing the viewer into their empathetic side. Everyone’s eyes are closed but for the older lady on the left. The matriarch, ever watchful, provides a sanctuary of safety in the bleak winter conditions. Emotional artwork.
That brings us halfway through our 10 Winter Artworks. We hope you are enjoying reading as much as we are enjoying putting it together, with a warm cup of tea and some hot beats.
6. Devotional Winter Scene — Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich was a German Romantic artist known for symbolic, contemplative
landscapes that emphasize solitude, spirituality, and the sublime power of nature.
Upon closer look we see some crutches tossed into the snow on the bottom right hand corner. Leading our eye p to the man praying next to the rock. He prays to the christ who looks down on him, all while the image of the Cathedral in the background, (which doesn’t look dissimilar to the Dark Tower in Lord of the Rings, just saying) strong and everstanding, reminds us of God looking over the whole scene. It generates emotions of loneliness and diminutiveness.
8. Untitled – Banksy
Banksy is an anonymous British street artist and political satirist whose stenciled works in
public spaces critique social, economic, and political issues.
9. Piano in the Snow — Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí was a Spanish Surrealist artist famed for his technically precise dreamlike
imagery and his exploration of fantasy, symbolism, and the subconscious.
One of our all time favourites, Dalí had the talent and the craziness. He would ridicule the analysis of his paintings, so with this we will just say it seems like a curious funeral, of none other than a piano.
10. Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun) — Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founding figure of Impressionism, known for his series paintings that
studied changing light and atmosphere on the same subject across different seasons and
times of day.
Capable of capturing so much with so few brushstrokes, the master of simplicity and atmosphere. This piece by Monet almost feels warm.
Well that brings us to the end of our top 10 Winter Artworks. We hope you enjoyed the exploration into this chilly subject.
Here at Artspace Tours we are running our tours in the cold and in the warm, so be sure to check us out when you come to Barcelona or Madrid!