Alex Katz calls his large-format landscapes, which were mainly created in Maine in the region around his studio, “environmental” paintings.

Compared to portraits, landscapes allow him to create all-over compositions that share qualities with abstract expressionism, the movement that dominated art during his studies. When the historian David Sylvester asked him whether landscapes dictated this feeling, Katz replied: “It’s art, it’s not nature. Nature is only a vehicle for art.”

Alex Katz is renowned for his “environmental” paintings—a term he uses to describe his large-scale landscapes that immerse viewers in natural scenes. Beginning in the late 1980s and 1990s, Katz shifted his focus to expansive canvases depicting trees, fields, and skies, aiming to envelop the viewer in the environment rather than presenting a distant view. He often starts with a conceptual idea of the landscape and then seeks to find that image in nature, resulting in works that are both painterly and immersive .

Katz’s approach was influenced by the scale and immediacy of Abstract Expressionism, particularly Jackson Pollock’s all-over compositions. However, Katz diverged by filling his canvases with representational elements like trees and skies, focusing on the interaction between light and landscape .

Recent exhibitions, such as “Grass and Trees” and “Autumn,” showcase Katz’s continued exploration of nature through monumental canvases that depict vibrant foliage and sweeping fields, capturing the essence of changing seasons.

These works are designed to envelop viewers, offering an experience akin to being within the scene rather than merely observing it

Katz’s environmental paintings are notable for their expansive dimensions, often stretching over a dozen feet wide. This scale transforms the viewer’s engagement from passive observation to active immersion, filling the entire field of vision with natural elements like trees, grasses, and skies. Katz has emphasized that “light is what holds my paintings together,” aiming to capture the fleeting qualities of light and atmosphere in the present moment .

In his later years, Katz shifted his focus toward nature, exploring light, seasons, and atmosphere in immersive large-scale landscapes. His works often depict the vibrant foliage, sweeping fields, and windblown trees of changing seasons, as seen in his “Autumn” series created between 2022 and 2023.

Katz’s approach to environmental painting is characterized by flattened planes of color, shallow pictorial space, and lean, reductive lines. This style conveys the appearance of things as they are both felt and perceived in the “present tense,” capturing “quick things passing” . His work bridges the gap between abstraction and representation, offering a unique perspective on the natural world.

If you’re interested in viewing these works, they are held in public collections internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Katz’s official website and platforms like Artsy provide access to his available pieces.

Recent Exhibitions and Works with this theme of Alex Katz:
“Autumn” (2022–2023): This series comprises eleven monumental canvases capturing the essence of fall through vibrant foliage and dynamic compositions .

“Grass and Trees” (2018): In this exhibition, Katz presented large-scale landscapes centered around grasses, roads, and trees, drawing inspiration from the scenic views surrounding his studio in Maine .

“Seasons” at MoMA (2024): The Museum of Modern Art showcased four monumental paintings, each representing a different season, highlighting Katz’s continued exploration of nature’s cyclical beauty

Red House is an original 203.2 x 213.4 x 0.0 cm oil painting in the collection of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, which belongs to Bernard Arnault.

Alex Katz is especially famous for his figurative paintings: The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, he was born in New York in 1927. As a pioneer of Pop Art, he always concentrated on the essentials and early on he began to work with simplified forms and contrasting color compositions. His art is diverse, but always has beauty as its central theme. The artist can now look back on more than 200 solo and around 500 group exhibitions; his diverse works are part of over 100 collections worldwide. Alex Katz lives and works in New York and Maine.