December Desktop Wallpapers, 2021 Edition

The year is closing out. To mark the last stretch of 2021 and set the tone for the holiday season, our yearly roundup of December wallpapers is here. Artists and designers from around the world have crafted designs with and without a December 2021 calendar, so you can pick what fits your screen and workflow.

Each preview is clickable for a closer look. As usual, the creators were given free rein over their subject matter; the artwork is entirely their own, not curated around a theme. Download options cover a broad range of common resolutions, from 320x480 up to 2560x1440.

Winter Holidays

A design by LibraFire from Serbia, themed around spending the Christmas and New Year holidays with loved ones.

Winter Holidays

Available in both calendar and calendar-free variants:

Holiday Cheer, Machine Readable

December’s desktop wallpaper collection leans into the season’s spirit of reflection and looking forward. Each submission captures the year’s end from a distinct visual angle, and all are available in a range of sizes to fit any screen.

For those who like their December 2021 wallpapers practical, the selection includes a characterful option from Swedish designer Ricardo Gimenes, featuring a musical nod to the holidays.

The wallpaper itself is a striking portrait of a pop icon figure.

King Of Pop

You can download a preview of this design. It is available in both with-calendar and without-calendar versions, spanning common resolutions from 640x480 up to 3840x2160. The full list of calendar and no-calendar downloads includes sizes like 1280x720, 1440x900, and 1920x1080.

A Toast to the New Year

Another featured design comes from PopArt Studio in Serbia. The accompanying artist statement frames the transitional mood of the season: “Endings intertwined with new beginnings, challenges we rose to and the ones we weren’t up to, dreams fulfilled and opportunities missed. The year we say goodbye to leaves a bitter-sweet taste, but we’re thankful for the lessons, friendships, and experiences it gave us. We look forward to seeing what the new year has in store, but, whatever comes, we will welcome it with a smile, vigor, and zeal.”

The visual for this one has a festive celebration mood.

On To The Next One

Grab a preview for a closer look. This wallpaper also comes in with-calendar and without-calendar sets, with download resolutions ranging from 320x480 to 2560x1440 for both versions.

Two Takes on a Holiday Classic

Seville Has A Special Color by Veronica Valenzuela (Spain) celebrates the end of the year in Spain's Andalusian capital, capturing the city's unique festive atmosphere. "The year is over and we celebrated it in Seville! Happy Christmas and a happy new year!"

Seville Has A Special Color

Humor and Music for the Festive Season

From the lighter side of the season, Anonymoose by Ricardo Gimenes (Sweden) brings a playful take on the winter holidays with a nod to the classic anonymous hero.

Anonymoose

ActiveCollab (United States) contributes Catchiest Christmas Song Ever, an homage to the earworms that define the season.

Catchiest Christmas Song Ever

Palm Trees And Parasols

For those who dream of a sun-soaked holiday, Reena Ngauv from Los Angeles offers a playful take on December. Her design, whimsically captioned “Oh dear! I mustn’t forget my parasol,” places a quintessentially Californian accent on the season.

December In Sunny So Cal

Both the calendar and no-calendar versions are available in a range of standard resolutions, from 1280x1024 up to 2560x1440, so the artwork adapts easily to different display sizes. The design is a reminder that the holiday aesthetic is broad enough to include sandy beaches alongside snowy landscapes.

From the Archives: December Wallpaper Favorites

For more than a decade, December has inspired some of the most distinctive wallpapers in our monthly series. Cold weather, holiday traditions, and quirky observances like Bathtub Party Day have all made their way into community designs over the years. The selection below gathers some of the strongest winter wallpapers from the archives. These are calendar-free versions, offered in a variety of resolutions.

Classic Holiday Cheer

Several contributors returned to timeless winter motifs. Ricardo Gimenes offers a bright take on the season with his Sweden-designed wallpaper, featuring a warm message that works for any celebration of the holidays.

Morgane Van Achter’s icy panorama from Belgium captures a crisp, serene Winter Landscape, complete with a palette that suits both snowy mornings and quiet evenings.

For a bit of a literary twist, Safia Begum crafted a festive jungle homage for Rudyard Kipling’s December 30th birthday. Her scene brings characters from The Jungle Book into a decorative, celebratory setting.

Gyaneshwari Dave took inspiration directly from her own backyard in the USA, illustrating cardinals against a snowy backdrop. The bright red of the birds against white flurries and bare branches reads as a symbol of faith and warmth during the cold, colorless days of winter.

Cozy And Quirky

Not every wallpaper leans on traditional imagery. Jonas Vanhamme visualized Bathtub Party Day, celebrated on December 5th, with a playful scene of what that observance might look like. Similarly, Emanuela Carta imagined Santa Claus embracing contemporary habits in her Christmas Selfie piece, riffing on the ubiquity of phone photography.

The Hannon Group from Washington D.C. focused on the Danish concept of hygge, noting that fire, blankets, and good company make all the difference when the sun goes down during winter.

Another playful entrant comes from Josh Cleland, whose humorous illustration explores a winter mishap with a tongue stuck to a lamppost.

Wintry Landscapes And Animal Life

PopArt Studio from Serbia drew on local scenery for their contribution, depicting the famous house on the River Drina in Bajina Bašta. The studio mused on the appeal of working in nature, away from civilization and neighbors, though they noted the internet connection might be questionable.

Contributors also found inspiration in winter fauna beyond cardinals. Engin Seline created a wallpaper honoring her late grandfather, a nature enthusiast who sparked her own fascination with birds. Her robin design serves as a recognizable and fitting emblem of winter.

Ana Masnikosa took a more abstract approach with Enchanted Blizzard, presenting a forgotten world where architecture meets fashion beneath a winter glaze.

Sketches Of The Season

Larger studios and individual artists alike shared their November-style takes. MasterBundles offers a generic Christmas Mood wallpaper, while Mel Armstrong and Tazi both contributed festive illustrations suited for 16:9 and other modern display ratios.

Dominic Leonard found magic in the mountains, pairing the majesty of the Matterhorn with a touch of holiday wonder. For a more intimate scene, Elise Vanoorbeek of Belgium illustrates a Gifts Lover wallpaper, and Frédéric Hermans describes his design simply as a basic backdrop for the cold month of December.

For something entirely different, Houndstooth pictured a mid-century modern Christmas set in a trailer park, away from the usual snowflakes and mountain vistas.

The brief roundup also includes works by Maria Keller, who suggests baking cookies as a way to share love during the holiday season, and by Morgan Newnham of Boulder, Colorado, whose wallpaper echoes the lyric “Joy to the world, all the boys and girls now.”

Vlad’s And Other Ambassadors Of The Season

Several wallpaper artists responded to the call for submissions with creative takes on winter traditions and observances. This archive roundup includes:

  • Dear Moon, Merry Christmas by Vlad Gerasimov of Russia, who invites viewers to visit Vladstudio for more of his work.
  • Getting Hygge by The Hannon Group, created for a Washington D.C. audience looking to generate cozy memories this winter.
  • Ice Flowers by Anca Varsandan of Romania, whose photographs of frosty days before Christmas offer a natural perspective.
  • Cardinals In Snowfall by Gyaneshwari Dave of the United States, who described the hand-illustrated pattern as a reflection on birds returning to her patio each December.
  • Happy Holidays by Ricardo Gimenes of Sweden, which conveys the universal peace of the season.
  • The House On The River Drina by PopArt Studio of Serbia, who highlighted the appeal of listening to river waves without neighbors to bother.
  • Joy To The World by Morgan Newnham of Boulder, Colorado, whose lyrics reference joy for fishes in the deep blue sea.
  • Christmas Time! by Sofie Keirsmaekers of Belgium, a festive pick from the archives.
  • Sweet Snowy Tenderness by PopArt Studio of Serbia, evoking the warm feeling of spending cold winter days in a cozy atmosphere while watching snowfall from the window.
  • Robin Bird by Engin Seline of Belgium, dedicated with care to her grandfather’s memory and shared curiosity about birds.
  • All That Belongs To The Past by Dorvan Davoudi of Canada, a New Year’s-themed design reflecting on revisiting favorite people and places from the past.
  • Enchanted Blizzard by Ana Masnikosa of Belgrade, Serbia, exploring the intersection of architecture and fashion.
  • Tongue Stuck On Lamppost by Josh Cleland of the United States.
  • Gifts Lover by Elise Vanoorbeek of Belgium.
  • Christmas Cookies by Maria Keller of Mexico.
  • Trailer Santa by Houndstooth of the United States.
  • Christmas Owl by Suman Sil of India.
  • Bathtub Party Day by Jonas Vanhamme of Belgium.
  • The Matterhorn by Dominic Leonard of the United Kingdom.
  • Christmas Selfie by Emanuela Carta of Italy.
  • Christmas With The Digies by Rachel Sulek of Wales, on behalf of the digitalprofile.io team.
  • Happy Birthday Rudyard! by Safia Begum of the United Kingdom.
  • Christmas by Frédéric Hermans of Belgium, a simple design for the cold month of December.
  • Christmas Mood by MasterBundles of the United States.
Dear Moon, Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays
Smashing Wallpaper - january 10
Enchanted Blizzard