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• plein air
  plein air

  noun

  the open air, especially the daylight of outdoors.
• plein-air
  plein-air

  adjective

  pertaining to a manner or style of painting developed chiefly in France in the mid-19th century, characterized by the representation of the luminous effects of natural light and atmosphere as contrasted with the artificial light and absence of the sense of air or atmosphere associated with paintings produced in the studio.

plein air

¹ American  

[pleyn air, ple ner] / ˈpleɪn ˈɛər, plɛ ˈnɛr /

noun

1. the open air, especially the daylight of outdoors.

2. Fine Arts. the quality of light and atmosphere out of doors, especially this quality as rendered in painting.

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plein-air ² American  

[pleyn-air, ple-ner] / ˌpleɪnˈɛər, plɛˈnɛr /

adjective

1. pertaining to a manner or style of painting developed chiefly in France in the mid-19th century, characterized by the representation of the luminous effects of natural light and atmosphere as contrasted with the artificial light and absence of the sense of air or atmosphere associated with paintings produced in the studio.

2. designating a painting executed out of doors and representing a direct response to the scene or subject in front of the artist.

3. (of a painting) having the qualities of air and natural light.

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plein-air British  

/ ˌpleɪnˈɛərɪst, plɛnɛr, ˌpleɪnˈɛə /

adjective

1. of or in the manner of various French 19th-century schools of painting, esp impressionism, concerned with the observation of light and atmosphere effects outdoors

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Other Word Forms

• plein-airism
  noun
• plein-airist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of plein air¹

1890–95; < French: literally, full air

Origin of plein-air²

First recorded in 1890–95; adj. use of plein air

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plein air plein-air

The result was 37 paintings begun from the motif en plein air, some worked on later in the studio at Giverny.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2025

The invention of tubes of paint, as well as faster drying paint and collapsible easels, allowed artists to explore faster, more spontaneous ways of painting, often outdoors 'en plein air'.

From BBC ● May 23, 2023

It was Katz, on Dodd’s first trip to Maine with King in 1951, who showed her how to paint en plein air, after which she abandoned working from drawings.

From New York Times ● Mar. 31, 2023

“There’s snow on the ground. It was 25 degrees. And still the nurses were outside doing this, and I couldn’t even believe it. So I stood outside and plein air painted those drive-through test centers.”

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2022

Beowulf had knitted a carrying case with a strap, perfect for those times when one gets the urge to paint en plein air and needs to carry one’s portable easel, paints, and brushes outdoors.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

Constable’s oil sketches, most unintended for public consumption, could be just as large and daring, and were prized for their extraordinarily loose paint-handling, transient atmospheric effects and true-to-nature palettes, the fruit of his plein-air practice.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026

And plein-air painters filled their canvases with the dramatic silhouettes of the California live oak.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025

Customers who purchase the coat on Black Friday will get to save $236 and can choose from the brand’s Black, night sky and plein-air shades.

From Fox News ● Nov. 26, 2021

The sixth episode of HBO’s “I May Destroy You” opens on a bucolic urban scene: a park under a train overpass, where three young friends are attempting some plein-air spray-painting on canvas.

From New York Times ● Jul. 29, 2020

Wherever the eye turned, there was that luminous plein-air in the midst of which moved the figures of people working in the fields or near their cottages.

From Without Dogma by Sienkiewicz, Henryk