The Hidden Stories in Nature Art
October 11, 2025 – Los Angeles: Art that depicts nature often seems straightforward — a beautiful landscape, a stormy sea, a majestic mountain. But what if there’s more to these images than meets the eye? The above video from the Crash Course Art History series delves into this very question, revealing that art about nature is rarely just about nature. Instead, it’s a window into the beliefs, values, and conflicts of the societies that created it.
Ancient Mysteries and Philosophical Harmony
The video takes us on a journey through art history, starting with the enigmatic Nazca Lines in Peru. These massive geoglyphs, etched into the desert floor around 500 BCE, depict animals and plants on a colossal scale. While their exact purpose remains a mystery, they demonstrate a deep connection between ancient peoples and the natural world, a connection that was likely both spiritual and practical.
Moving to the East, we explore the rich tradition of Chinese landscape painting. For centuries, artists have used a distinctive blue-green color palette to create serene, dreamlike landscapes. These paintings aren’t just pretty pictures; they are visual representations of Daoist philosophy, which emphasizes harmony between humanity and nature. Contemporary artist Xu Bing cleverly subverts this tradition in his installation “Background Story: Mount Lu.“ From a distance, it appears to be a classic landscape, but a closer look reveals that it’s made from discarded materials like plastic bags and dried plants — a powerful commentary on our modern, waste-filled reality.
Political Statements in Seascapes and Landscapes
The video also examines how artists have used nature to address pressing social and political issues. J.M.W. Turner’s 1840 painting, “Slave Ship,“ initially appears to be a dramatic seascape. But a closer look reveals human limbs in the churning waves, a horrifying reference to the practice of throwing sick and dying enslaved people overboard for insurance money. The painting is a searing indictment of the slave trade, using the chaos of nature to mirror the brutality of human actions.
In 19th-century America, landscape paintings played a role in shaping national identity. Artists of the Hudson River School, like Thomas Moran, painted breathtaking, seemingly untouched wildernesses. These images reinforced the idea of Manifest Destiny — the belief that Americans had a divine right to expand across the continent. However, these paintings conveniently ignored the fact that these lands were already inhabited by Indigenous peoples. By presenting the West as an empty frontier, these artists helped to justify the displacement and violence that accompanied westward expansion.
Contemporary Critiques and Ecological Art
Contemporary artists continue to challenge and deconstruct these historical narratives. Valerie Hegarty’s “Fallen Bierstadt“ is a direct response to a 19th-century landscape painting, showing it as a decaying, crumbling ruin. This act of artistic destruction serves as a powerful critique of the romanticized and often misleading vision of the American West.
The video also highlights the work of Indigenous artists who are using their traditions to address contemporary environmental and social issues. Christi Belcourt, a Métis artist from Canada, creates intricate paintings that resemble traditional beadwork. Her work, such as “The Wisdom of the Universe,” depicts native and endangered species, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all living things and the urgent need for environmental protection.
Finally, the video explores the world of land art, where artists use the earth itself as their canvas. Maya Lin’s “Storm King Wavefield“ transforms a former gravel pit into a stunning landscape of rolling, grassy waves. This “living sculpture“ not only reclaims a damaged piece of land but also invites viewers to physically experience and connect with the natural world in a new way.
Conclusion
Art is never neutral. Every brushstroke, every choice of color, every subject is infused with meaning. The next time you look at a landscape painting, take a moment to consider the stories it might be telling — stories about our relationship with nature, with each other, and with the world we all share.