Kuvamaisema

Kuva-maisema (often written as kuvamaisema in Finnish) is a compound term formed from kuva, meaning image or picture, and maisema, meaning landscape. The word is used in Finnish-language discourse to refer to landscapes as they are depicted within an image, rather than landscapes as they exist in situ.

In practice, kuvamaisema describes the pictorial representation of a landscape across media such as painting, photography, and digital imagery. It emphasizes the two-dimensional nature of the depiction and how elements like composition, light, color, mood, and perspective are arranged to convey a sense of place. The concept is often employed in visual culture and art criticism to distinguish imagery-based landscapes from lived or physically experienced landscapes.

The term can cover a range of approaches, from traditional landscape painting to contemporary photographic and digital works. It is commonly used to discuss how a landscape is framed, stylized, or manipulated to achieve particular effects, such as atmospheric tension, idealized scenery, or documentary immediacy. Because kuvamaisema focuses on image-based representation, it is often used in contrast to terms that describe the actual physical landscape or experiential aspects of viewing a landscape.

Usage and interpretation of kuvamaisema vary within Finnish discourse. It may appear in art criticism, theoretical writings on visual culture, and discussions of photography and media art. While it is a recognizable concept in Finnish, it is not a rigid, universally standardized term and can be employed flexibly to describe how landscapes are depicted in images.

See also: painting, photography, landscape, visual culture.