Il Tramonto (The Sunset)

Giorgione's Il Tramonto (The Sunset), painted around 1508 and now in the National Gallery, London, is a small landscape painting that demonstrates his revolutionary approach to the genre. The atmospheric landscape with tiny figures—including Saint George fighting the dragon and a mysterious pool—creates a mood of dreamlike mystery. Giorgione's landscapes pioneered the concept of mood and atmosphere as the primary subject of painting, anticipating developments that would not be fully realized for centuries.

Giorgione creates an extraordinary atmospheric effect through warm, golden light and soft, blended tones that dissolve forms into the landscape, making mood and atmosphere the painting's true subject rather than any narrative element.