10 MTG Lands As Illustrated by Famous Painters

I haven't played Magic: The Gathering regularly in about 15 years, but even I squealed with glee when I saw the announcement that they were released 10 basic lands featuring unique artwork by the painting legend Bob Ross.

And that got me thinking: what other legendary painters would I want to see with artwork on Magic: The Gathering basic land cards?

And that got me thinking: wait, don't have I Photoshop and time to kill in quarantine?

And so, without further ado, here are 10 basic land card proxies I mocked up using the work of famous painters.

Also, I designed a nice and neat PDF for printing these out as double-sided proxy cards! You can get a free copy by signing up for my mailing list!

The father of cubism and a multi-talent painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer, Pablo Picasso definitely deserves his own land card.

I think his Landscape with Two Figures from 1908 would make a killer forest card.

I think the infamous oil-paint-slinging post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh's vibrant landscapes would go beautifully with MTG, don't you?

Here's Wheatfield with Crows (1890), which normally hangs in Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, but you can add to your deck.

The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is known more for her portraits, but she did produce a few stunning landscapes in her signature style.

Landscape (1946) has exactly the right color palette and subject matter to work nicely on a swamp card.

Digeo Rivera, the painter whose frescos helped establish the Mexican mural movement, has some absolutely stunning landscape work that really leaps off the card.

This Landscape from the Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacan in Mexico City might be my favorite card in this set.

Although she's better-known for her beautiful (some would say erotic) paintings of flowers, American artist Georgia O'Keeffe produced many stunning landscapes, mostly of areas of New Mexico.

Here's Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie's II (1930) as a Mountain.

What can I say, I can't get enough of the Dutchman. Here he is Vincent Van Gogh again with The Olive Trees (1889) as a Forest card.

Landscape with Cacti (1931) by Diego Rivera. I've always loved Plains cards with cacti!

The king of WTF himself, Spanish artist Salvador Dalí's surreal landscapes make the perfect visually melty, boggy Swamp card art.

Above is Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937) as a swamp card.

Lake George (formerly Reflection Seascape) (1922) by Georgia O'Keeffe makes for a beautiful Island card.

Okay, admittedly I cheated a little bit with this one. Its title is The Oil Mill (1909), but I do think it works well as a cubist's take on a Mountain.

Alrighty, those are all the cards I designed based on my favorite painters. Do you have any you'd like to see?

Also, don't forget that if you sign up for my mailing list via this page, you'll automatically receive these cards on an easy print sheet so you can cut them out and add them to your deck!