Winter light is short. Five paintings that have more of it than your window

In early December, the sun sets over Paris before five in the afternoon. You go into a meeting in daylight and come out into lamplight. By January, you'd trade almost anything for one long golden hour.

Painters have stored some for us.

1. Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid

Light comes in from a window on the left and lands on everything it touches: the bread crust, the blue apron, the thin stream of milk. Even the bare wall glows. Vermeer makes an ordinary morning feel like the most important moment of the day.

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid, about 1658. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

2. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior from Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor

An empty room, grey walls, white doors, and on the floorboards two pale rectangles of sun. Hammershøi painted his own apartment in Copenhagen again and again. Here, the light is the only visitor.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior from Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor, 1901. Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

3. Camille Corot, Souvenir of Mortefontaine

A silvery morning by a lake, a tree leaning over the water, a woman and children reaching for its branches. Corot painted it from memory, which is why it feels like a feeling rather than a place: a souvenir, quite literally.

Camille Corot, Souvenir of Mortefontaine, 1864. Musée du Louvre, Paris

4. Berthe Morisot, Summer's Day

Two women in a boat on a lake in the Bois de Boulogne, painted in quick, feathery strokes. The water flickers, the light seems to move. Morisot painted brightness as something alive.

Berthe Morisot, Summer's Day, about 1879. The National Gallery, London (Lane Bequest)

5. Frederic Leighton, Flaming June

A woman asleep in a dress of blazing orange, the sea glittering behind her. It's pure, saturated warmth, the colour of a Mediterranean afternoon you can almost feel on your skin.

Frederic Leighton, Flaming June, 1895. Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico

A ritual for the darkest afternoon

At around four, when the light starts to fade, switch off the overhead light and turn on a lamp. Open one of these paintings. Find where the light comes from, then follow it across the canvas, from the source to the last thing it touches. Breathe slowly while you do.

For evenings, here's why we crave candlelight in winter, and for the hours of daylight you have, a winter walk ritual for the shortest days.

Brighter months

"(letters) On Art" brings each issue of "(meditating) On Art", with a letter and a postcard every month in between. A little light, delivered regularly.

Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.

Love, Evi