How Nature Found Its Way into the Living Room

In the 19th century, industrialization and urbanization fundamentally changed the way people viewed nature. Landscape paintings became an integral part of middle-class living spaces – not only as decoration, but also as an expression of longing, memory, and personal identity.

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller played a pivotal role in this development. His detailed views of the Salzkammergut, the Vienna Prater, or Italy depict nature as a space that can be experienced directly and made real landscapes the central motif of painting.

The video offers insight into Waldmüller’s landscape painting and demonstrates why these images still feel familiar and relevant to us today.