Residing in Santa Fe, plein air landscape painter, Peter Hagen, is surrounded by the terrain which most inspires him. Motivated by his love of exploration and the challenges presented by changes in light and weather, nearly all of Hagen’s canvases are painted outdoors. “I paint outside because it inspires me. It’s emotionally exciting. I can see what’s happening with the sun, the clouds. I can hear the wind as it rushes through the trees, it’s all out there, everything.”

Hagen was born in 1944 in New York City and grew up in Connecticut from where he was able to frequent New York’s numerous museums throughout his childhood. He remembers being most drawn to the works of impressionist artist Van Gogh and Monet, and by his early teens Hagen had decided to become a painter.

He attended several art schools including the Art Guild in Connecticut and the University of Arizona but it wasn’t until much later that he began to seriously pursue his career in fine art. In 1987, Hagen moved from Colorado, where he’d been sharpening his plein air skills, to Taos in pursuit of Northern New Mexico’s milder climate and community of landscape painters and studied with painters Ray Vinella and Ned Jacob. He has been painting full time since. His work has been featured in various exhibits in Santa Fe, Taos, Aspen and Connecticut.

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