Tall buildings, masses of people, and the general vibe of a busy life — cityscape paintings try to capture all that in a static image. They give us a chance to experience the city without going into it. Artists sometimes spend years creating a single cityscape painting. Some try to capture the beautiful part of a city, others — the more gritty. It is hard to look away from them and gasp at the beauty in city artworks.
Cities are the pinnacle of human civilization. Like paintings of cityscapes, they capture our attention and keep us away from nature. Unlike landscape paintings, which focus more on the wider view of nature, city paintings look at a single element of urban society. For example, The Fourth Of July by Childe Hassam looks at an American town filled with the starry flags of the US. Famous city paintings like these isolate one thing and put it in the center of attention for viewers to observe.
The good thing about paintings is that you can enjoy them while sitting in the comfort of your home. We have prepared some of the most famous paintings of cities in the list below. If you found the subject matter compelling and beautifully displayed, be sure to upvote it. On the other hand, if you have a story to share about the painting itself, share it with a comment below.
#1 Late Afternoon, New York, Winter By Childe Hassam
Artist: Childe Hassam | Year (completed): 1900 | Movement: American Impressionism
Due to the falling snow effect in the painting, some enormous structures in the backdrop got reduced to darker paint portions without any significant detail. Some people are holding up umbrellas to combat the harsh winter weather. It is easy to guess that some residents decided to stay in the warmth of their homes.
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19points
#2 Paris Street, Rainy Day By Gustave Caillebotte
Artist: Gustave Caillebotte | Year (completed): 1877 | Movement: Realism
Parisian audiences used to the formal, academic style were thrilled by the painting's finely detailed surface, exacting perspective, and expansive size. A more radical sensibility was sparked by its asymmetrical composition, irregularly cut shapes, rain-washed tone, and truly modern theme.
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17points
#3 View Of Houses In Delft By Johannes Vermeer
Artist: Johannes Vermeer | Year (completed): 1658 | Period: Baroque
Another painting of Johannes Vermeer that involves Delft in one way or another. This picture is rare and noteworthy for its era as a portrayal of typical residences. The tone is both energetic and well-balanced. The antique walls with their bricks, whitewash, and fissures appear almost touchable.
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17points
#4 View Of Delft By Johannes Vermeer
Artist: Johannes Vermeer | Year (completed): 1661 | Period: Baroque
View Of Delft was painted from a high vantage point southeast of Delft. This picture is a true masterpiece because of the interaction of light and shade, the stunning foggy sky, and the delicate reflections in the water. The city has a calm atmosphere, and it seems like there is no wind — a place that can only exist in a good dream.
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16points
#5 Boulevard Des Capucines By Claude Monet
Artist: Claude Monet | Year (completed): 1874 | Movement: Impressionism
A veteran of landscape paintings, Claude Monet was able to capture the city too. The critic Ernest Chesneau asserted that Monet caught the elusive aspect of movement with unparalleled precision in his painting Boulevard des Capucines, which offered a true sight of Parisian life on a winter's day.
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16points
#6 The Boulevard Montmartre At Night By Camille Pissarro
Artist: Camille Pissarro | Year (completed): 1897 | Movement: Impressionism
Boulevard Montmartre at Night depicts the crowded Parisian thoroughfare at night immediately following rain. The large group of moving people and the trees are portrayed as abstract vertical forms. The sky is gloomy and cloud-filled. The streetlamps are the only source of light for the people in the painting.
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15points
#7 Stadtansicht By August Von Siegen
Artist: August von Siegen | Year (completed): before 1910 | Period: Realism
Moving away from the busy life of Amsterdam, Stadtansicht is a “city view” of another western city. In this one, we see the town from the point of view of a city dweller — from the street. A canal separates two sides of the town. While boats clog the waterway, large numbers of people fill the streets.
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14points
#8 View Of Florence By Thomas Cole
Artist: Thomas Cole | Year (completed): 1837 | Movement: Hudson River School
Thomas Cole, an American, captured a European city in the Hudson River school style. During his 1831 trip to Italy, Cole sketched this view of Florence in pencil just before dusk. In the painting, people are playing some songs, conversing in dialog, while behind them stands the grand city of Florence. Green leaves hang on the branches of the trees.
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14points
#9 Saint-Malo By Arnold Lakhovsky
Artist: Arnold Lakhovsky | Year (completed): before 1937 | Movement: Fauvism
Arnold Lakhovsky was a Ukrainian artist who masterfully painted French urban life and then, in 1937, passed away in New York — inception. Saint-Malo takes a stab at portraying a French town in an array of colors. People live their lives, sell fruit and engage in casual conversation. Saint-Malo Cathedral stands tall in the distance.
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13points
#10 Evening, St Kilda Road By Clarice Beckett
Artist: Clarice Beckett | Year (completed): 1930 | Period: Modern
Beckett investigates the limitations of representation by fusing an urban electric glow with twilight's ambient illumination and retrieving her composition from an abstract point of abstraction utilizing darkened box-shaped automobiles. Beckett creates a powerful atmospheric effect, engulfing the city in a cloak of rose tones that conjures the waning hours of dusk.
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13points
#11 Antwerpen
Artist: Unknown | Year (Completed): 1800
While Antwerp is already a beautiful city to visit these days, Antwerpen reveals the city in its older days, and to be honest — it is more beautiful than ever. While the lower half of the painting focuses more on the houses, people, and the watery front, the upper half centers entirely on the Cathedral of Our Lady and the sky the towers seem to touch.
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12points
#12 Urban Landscape By Charles Leickert
Artist: Charles Leickert | Year (completed): 1856
Urban Landscape automatically sets up a theme of the painting — the city and its view. Charles Leickert created a lively and breathing town. People gather around a street shopkeeper and unload something from their small, overfilled boats. Leickert lived in Amsterdam from 1849 to 1883, thus the presented view we see is a portrayal of this city.
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12points
#13 Stadtansicht By Anton Burger
Artist: Anton Burger | Year (completed): Before 1905
Stadtansicht by Anton Burger proves that a town can also be calm and small. The painting places the viewer on the bank of a small river. On the other side of the body of water, a few houses stand. They seem to be on the verge of desolation. Their roofs are covered in red, probably clay, shingles. A tall structure, likely a church building, stands in the background.
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11points
#14 Ansicht Von Brügge By August Fischer
Artist: August Fischer | Year (completed): 1905
Calm and peaceful — August Fischer captured this side of the town with Ansicht Von Brügge. Water flows through a canal on which a single boat, with a person in it, is seen. A stone bridge connects two different sides of the river. Buildings dot the coast, and it seems like a church stands in the far distance, in the interior of the town.
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11points
#15 De Waag (Weighing House) And Crane On The Spaarne, Haarlem By Gerrit Adriaenszoon Berckheyde
Artist: Gerrit Adriaenszoon Berckheyde | Year (completed): before 1698 | Period: Dutch Golden Age
Cities are mainly the hub spots of industry, and Gerrit Adriaenszoon Berckheyde perfectly portrayed this aspect in De Waag (Weighing House) And Crane On The Spaarne, Haarlem. We can see several boats waiting to unload. On the shore, several people discuss something while their horses are eating grass and looking around.
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11points
#16 Blick Auf Eine Stadt Mit Abendhimmel By Carl Schuch
Artist: Carl Schuch | Year (completed): before 1903
A painter of still lifes and landscapes, Carl Schuch was not afraid to dabble and paint a few cityscapes of his own. Blick Auf Eine Stadt Mit Abendhimmel showcases his ability to capture a bleak-looking town. The majority of buildings we see are residential ones. Above them hangs a dark collection of clouds, hinting that it will rain.
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11points
#17 Fischerhäuser Am Stadtkanal By Karl Schuster
Artist: Karl Schuster | Year (completed): 1896 | Period: Realism
One might think that Karl Schuster grabbed his canvas and captured the view in front of him (or in his mind). Fischerhäuser Am Stadtkanal shows how the life of a simple town was — people row in their boats, trees flourish near the waterfront, and people inside have windows wide open.
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11points
#18 De Verloren Stappen By Gustaaf Sorel
Artist: Gustaaf Sorel | Year (completed): before 1981 | Movement: Cubism
Another bleak view of a town from Gustaaf Sorel, only this one is filled to the brim with dark colors. Looking at it, you can see several buildings whose windows house strange sights. Strange faces and distorted bodies are visible in the windows and on the walls of the buildings. The artist is a master when it comes to creating mind-bending paintings.
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11points
#19 Queensboro Bridge By Andreas Orosz
Artist: Andreas Orosz | Year (completed): 2001 | Style: Realism
In 1999, Andreas Orosz took up the job and captured the beauty of New York City and its many structures. One of them was the Queensboro Bridge, the bridge that unites the regions of Queens and Manhattan together. In the painting, cars drive on the road, and a distant biker cycles toward the city.
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10points
#20 Area Of Venice By Frits Thaulow
Artist: Frits Thaulow | Year (completed): 1894 | Movement: Impressionism
Norwegian Frits Thaulow took his time when he decided to paint Area Of Venice. The work of art portrays what makes Venice so famous — its water-filled canals. We see a couple of boats on the water. One is resting near the walls, one is rowing to the left side of the painting, and one is under a bridge.
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10points