Countdown to Christmas 2025
In the lead up to Christmas I’m going to share a piece of artwork each day.
If you want to see what piece of art I choose each day visit this page on the website, or if you would like to have the artwork drop into you email inbox daily sign up to that by clicking here.
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December 1st
Love of Winter by George Bellows (1914)
What a wonderful picture to start the countdown! I don’t know about you, but I love it when it snows. I know it brings a great deal of inconvenience…. But I personally think the fun and beauty of a blanket of white is worth it!
The artist, Bellows, loved the snow too. Early in 1914 he complained that there hadn’t been enough snow for him to paint. He said to a friend ‘There has been none of my favourite snow. I must paint snow at least once a year’. Almost as if his complaints were heard a huge blizzard hit New York, where he was staying and covered the city in a thick layer of snow. Excited by this Bellows set to work creating this wonderful painting.
Showing crowds of New Yorkers enjoying what the snow had to offer it is a truly splendid painting. I love the way that he uses bright reds, yellow and greens to make certain individuals stand out in the predominantly cold and blue environment. The way the skaters lean and give the sense of movement is masterful, and the heartwarming feel of the parents and children in the foreground is well observed. It is well worth spending some time looking at all the details Bellow has included; the trees and buildings in the background, his use of occasional dots of colour here and there, the strong use of light and dark... all adding to the drama, and excitement of the picture.
We may not get snow as heavy as this over this Winter, but I do share the idea in the title of this piece: I love winter
December 2nd
The Annunciation Edward Burne-Jones, 1879
At the start of the Christmas story is ‘The Annunciation”, a fancy name for the bit where the Angel Gabriel tells Mary that she is to have a baby- Jesus. This part of the story has been painted hundreds of times, in so many different ways. This year I have chosen the version of the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones. He produces the most amazing paintings full of ethereal qualities, almost magical, with stunning hyperrealism. This painting is no exception.
We see Mary in plain white clothes, to reflect her innocence and her ‘ordinary’ nature. Every fold of the fabric is meticulously painted and feels like if she let the fabric fall from her left hand it would slump to the floor. Hovering above her (in a slightly awkward, almost theatrical way) is the Angel Gabriel, with splendid clothes and his dazzling wings just showing.
What with these amazing figures and his demonstration of perspective in the background, Burne-Jones is really showing us he knows his stuff when it comes to painting… and I love it!
The ‘hidden detail’ in plain sight in this picture is the carved scene decorating the arch way. Adam and Eve are being banished from the Garden of Eden after their terrible mistake of tasting the apple. A mistake that eventually leads, according to the Christian story, to the need for Jesus to be born.
But for all this splendor it is the faces in Burne-Jones’s painting that fascinate me. I feel drawn in by the innocent beauty of Mary and the majestic strength of Gabriel. I hope you are drawn to them too.
December 3rd
The Christmas Fair - George von Rosen 1872
‘There is nothing new under the sun’ as the expression goes! Christmas has always been a time for overspending on ‘stuff’ that we quite like, but don’t need. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that stockings full of bits and pieces that will probably be in the bin or the back of a draw a few weeks after shouldn’t happen. Gift giving, however small, make Christmas morning fun and exciting, and I personally love it!
Here we have a painting of a couple out shopping, set a good few years ago! The Artist, von Rosen (a French born Swede) was greatly influenced by Medieval and Renaissance times and many of his paintings show scenes of olden times. We can see the couple laden with Christmas goods; gifts for children, musical instruments for jolly making, and a Christmas tree for the house. All paid for from that rather wonderful pouch which no doubt has the money in it! We see others at the Christmas Fair, a pig being led off to a less than happy end, a child peering at edible baked treats (notice the kringla on the sign above the shop), and a toy saleswoman, showing her wears! All of this seems strangely familiar. Apart from the clothing (and possibly the live pig!) this could be any shopping center in any town over the lead up to Christmas.
Nothing new under the sun!
One detail I’m not sure on is the rather bulky appearance of the woman. Is she carrying more shopping under that shawl or just keeping her arms warm? Or is she carrying something else… an unborn baby perhaps? Is this who all the presents are for? What a time to have a baby!
December 4th
Cutting Christmas Trees - Hans Andersen Brendekilde 1885
As I wonder around at the moment, I am delighted to see that there are Christmas trees popping up in people’s windows everywhere. Mine is yet to go up but will do soon. I love a Christmas tree and spending time decorating it ‘just so’ is important to me. So, I thought it was high time to have a Christmas tree painting.
Hans Anderson Brendekilde (… yes, he is a distant relative of that story writer!) was a Danish social realist painter. He is famed for painting scenes of everyday life from rural Denmark showing life as he saw it.
Here we have an amazing painting where a family are choosing and collecting their Christmas tree. There are several aspects of this painting that I love. First of all, the woodland itself. It has a beautiful almost hazy feel to it. A collection of daubs and sharp strikes of paint build up the multiple textures that you would find in the countryside; the softness of leaves, bracken, and frosty muddy soil and the sharpness of bare branches and dead grasses. All beautifully painted.
Then we have the people. The adults are at the back doing the actual work, and the three boys, I think brothers, are in the foreground. One of them is occupied looking in the undergrowth, unaware or unworried about the other two. The artist has captured that wonderful moment of the older brother telling off the younger brother. It makes me wonder what he has done!
Collecting my Christmas tree will mean a visit to the loft, not a woodland, but this painting does make we wish I could go out into the woods and select my own that way!
December 5th
Washington Arch at Winter Twilight - Rachael Robinson Elmer 1914
Elmer produced a series of postcards (this is one of them) showing scenes around New York, and they caused quite a stir! Some commentators say that she single handedly changes the way people of the time used and thought about postcards of the city, selling them in up market boutiques to people of influence... And I can see why! The simple style and charm of this image, and the others in the series, capture a calm, elegant beauty of city.
Not bad for an artist who started her art training by taking part in a correspondence course on how to be an artist!
The muted colours and the wonderful orange glow in the sky perfectly show that Winter twilight mood. I like the clever way that Elmer has included the dash of red in the lady’s hat decoration. Without that the picture would be just a little flat.
The other thing that is not noticed right way, and once pointed out is so prominent, is the black lines that surround the arch and key elements of the picture. They make the imposing structure of the arch really stand out.
I think I would love to have received this card through the post!
