The use of nature in the visual arts speaks to a whole host of concerns that date back to the Classical tradition. These include metaphors of power, acts of territorial expansion, family heritage, economic interests, philosophical reflections on the transience of life, and the dichotomy between nature and culture.
The works in this room comprise a range of western tropes for the depiction of nature. Look around the gallery and see if you can identify examples of the picturesque, the use of allegory, the practice of working en plein aire, images from the cycle of the four seasons, and artwork that evokes the pastoral mood.