The Voyage of Life: Childhood (detail) - トーマス コール Poster.

Thomas Cole Biography

• Born February 1, 1801 in Bolton, Lancashire, England
• In 1818, he emigrated with his family to Steubenville, Ohio, USA.
• From around 1823, he taught himself painting and began working as a traveling portrait painter.
• In 1825, he moved to New York, where his paintings of the Hudson River landscape were highly praised by John Trumbull and others, and he gained fame as a landscape painter.
• From 1829 to 1832, he traveled through Europe and was particularly impressed by the landscapes and ancient ruins of Italy.
• In 1836, he produced his masterpiece, the series The Progress of the Empire, in which he established his own unique style, combining historical themes with landscape painting.
• In the same year, he established a home in the Catskill Mountains, where he continued to create works.
• Died February 11, 1848, Catskill, New York (aged 47)

Representative works

• The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm) (1836)
• The Voyage of Life, series (1842)
• Childhood
• Youth
• Manhood
• Old Age
• The Course of Empire, series (1833-1836)
  • The Savage State
  • The Arcadian or Pastoral State
  • The Consummation of Empire
  • Destruction
  • Desolation
• Sunrise in the Catskill Mountains (1826)
• The Last of the Mohicans (1827)

Cole's style of painting is characterized by his depictions of America's majestic nature as idealized landscapes. He created poetic portrayals of the landscapes of eastern America, such as the Hudson River basin and the Catskill Mountains, and established a style of landscape painting known as the Hudson River School . His masterpiece, "Oxbow (Meandering Connecticut River)," depicts the majestic scenery of the Connecticut River after a storm, and is widely known as his most famous work, with keywords such as "Thomas Cole Oxbow" and "Thomas Cole landscape painting."

Cole also went beyond mere landscape painting, developing his own unique style by fusing historical and allegorical themes with landscape painting. Series such as "The Voyage of a Life" and "The Passage of an Empire" depict universal themes such as human fate and the rise and fall of civilizations on a grand scale, and are highly regarded as important works that demonstrate his ideology, with keywords such as "Thomas Cole: The Voyage of a Life" and "Thomas Cole: The Voyage of a Life" .

Through his work, Cole made a major contribution to the development of American landscape painting and had a huge influence on later generations of painters. His works are housed in major art museums across the United States, and you can find information on museums where you can view his work by searching for "Thomas Cole artwork" or "Thomas Cole Museum of Art." In addition, the mansion in Catskill, New York where he lived is now open to the public as the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and you can learn more about his life and work by searching for "Thomas Cole National Historic Site."