Discover more than forty dreamlike landscapes from our print collection. At the end of the 19th century, a young generation of artists used these works to convey their inner feelings and personal experiences. These prints are fragile and sensitive to light, and are therefore rarely exhibited.

Renowned artists This intimate presentation features prints by artists including Emile Bernard, Maxime Maufra, Félix Vallotton, Paul Signac, Charles Guilloux, Odilon Redon and Ker-Xavier Roussel. Landscapes turned out to be the perfect means of expressing their inner feelings on paper. By portraying emotions, they consciously turned away from modern, materialistic society, with its focus on rationalism.

Printed landscapes Printing was all the rage in the fin de siècle (1890-1905). Artists experimented extensively with lithographs, etchings and woodcuts. They were able to add extra layers of meaning to both their colour and black-and-white landscapes. Some suggested a higher, mystical presence in nature. Others created idyllic fantasy landscapes or melancholic sunsets.

Printmaking techniques Read more about the different techniques:

Lithography Colour lithography Etching Woodcut Aquatint Van Gogh as inspiration Vincent van Gogh was a source of inspiration for many artists. Although he took reality as a starting point, his landscapes are often filled with emotions. There is ‘so much soul and mysterious endeavour in nature’, he wrote in 1886. In the mystical print series Suite de paysages (1893) by Charles Marie Dulac, Van Gogh’s influence can be seen in the swirling treetops.

Matthew Wong This presentation ties in with the upcoming exhibition Matthew Wong | Vincent van Gogh: Painting as a Last Resort, which opens on 1 March 2024. Wong also painted imaginative landscapes, often charged with emotion or mysticism. Van Gogh was one of his most important sources of inspiration, but he was also inspired by the work of other 19th-century artists who are represented in the Van Gogh Museum (print) collection.