Thanks to Jan Kaluza on twiter, I’ve just found the website of Simon Stålenhag, with some of the painting references for the those first Lighting Acadmy. For instance:
http://www.simonstalenhag.se/bilderbig/december1994_1920.jpg
http://www.simonstalenhag.se/bilderbig/flyby_1920.jpg
But more importantly, there are some other paintings WITHOUT snow, which can be useful to get a better sense on what we could/would like to achive. For instance:
http://www.simonstalenhag.se/bilderbig/vertikalstaderna_1920.jpg
It now also apears that we could want a post-process to get the painting look… (this it not lighting, I know)