“Landscape as Realm of the Soul” means that  the landscape is a spiritual and emotional realm, which was an important concept of the American  (New York) Hudson River School of painting.

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This concept is influenced by the theological teachings of the 18th-century Swedish philosopher and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, which suggest that the natural world mirrors a spiritual one and that our surroundings are a manifestation of our internal state. The concept connects the external landscape to internal spiritual and emotional reality. Just as a physical landscape can hold history and secrets, so too can the human soul. 

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Again, the concept of the “landscape as the realm of the soul” suggests that our inner spiritual and psychological state is mirrored and shaped by the physical environment we inhabit and perceive. This idea is explored in spiritual, psychological, and artistic contexts, where the external landscape can reflect internal landscapes, and engaging with nature or meaningful places can be a path to self-discovery, healing, and a deeper connection to the sacred. 

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Most representative of this concept is the work of 19th-century American landscape painter George Inness (1825-1894), long considered one of America's greatest landscape painters, who became known as a leader of the Tonalist movement, which emphasized atmosphere and mood over realistic detail. Inness was associated with the Hudson River School style early on in his artistic career. The artists of the Hudson River School viewed nature as a manifestation of the divine. Inness’s painting was influenced by his philosophical and religious beliefs, particularly those of Emanuel Swedenborg. (A religious movement known as “The New Church” was founded in 1817. For Swedenborgians, everything in the natural world has a counterpart in the spiritual world.) Inness’s later work was more mystical, expressing his belief in the harmonious connection of all things. He he used landscape painting as a form of philosophical inquiry and as a method of revealing spiritual truths in order to express his belief in the unity of nature and spirit. Because Inness was more interested in metaphysics than in purely representational art, this places him within the context of the Hudson River School, Transcendentalism, and the work of William James. Inness's Tonalist paintings, which are characterized by the use of light, color, and shadow to create a complex and ordered scene with a hazy, atmospheric quality, often capture the “poetry” of a place rather than specific topographical details.  

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“Any landscape is a condition of the spirit”—Henri Frédéric Amiel. Henri Frédéric Amiel (1821-1881) was a Swiss moral philosopher, poet, and critic. This quote connects the physical landscape to an individual’s sense of spirit. Amiel believed that a sense of identity and belonging is one of humanities deepest needs. This coincides with our attachment to natural landscape and how we identify landscapes both from an outside perspective as well as from within.