Happy Earth Day!
First celebrated in 1970, this global movement serves to educate, raise awareness and give rise to meaningful action to prevent climate change and environmental destruction. Artists and makers have taken inspiration for nature for thousands of years; we can see this in everything from 5,000-year-old terracotta animal figurines to 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints, from Dutch still life paintings to the more recent oil landscapes of the Impressionists.
Here are just four objects from our collection that drew inspiration from nature.
1. The Sea at Satta in Suruga Province. Ukiyo-e Print by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1858.
2. Flowers and Insects by Jan van Kessel (1626–1679). Oil on copper.
3. Figure of an Ox, Chanhu-daro, 2500–2300 BC.
4. Landscape with Trees by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919)
