Summer 1825-2025

COLE 200

This summer marks the 200th Anniversary of Thomas Cole’s first trip to Catskill, New York (1825-2025), which changed the course of American Art. The paintings he made of the Hudson River Valley and Catskill Mountains launched not only his career, but the major art movement of the United States known as the Hudson River School of American landscape painting.
Thomas Cole’s trip inspired him to paint three significant works which elevated American landscape to iconic stature: Lake with Dead Trees, Kaaterskill Falls, and View of Fort Putnam. Upon returning to New York City, Cole convinced a bookseller to hang the three paintings in his shop window, and overnight success ensued. Thomas Cole’s American landscape paintings and impassioned writings advocated for the preservation of the natural landscape and gave rise to the country’s identity of “America the beautiful.”

Thomas Cole’s first visit to Catskill is an event whose significance resonates through the history of American art to the present day.

—Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor in the History of Art, Yale University

When Cole took his first trip up the Hudson River in 1825 and took sketches of the Catskill region, his early wilderness scenes launched a new paradigm for American art.
—Elizabeth Kornhauser, Curator Emerita, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
If landscape painting in America can be said to have a “big bang” moment, that was surely it. Cole and his works soon inspired other artists to take up landscape painting themselves, and America’s first great national school of art came into being.
—Franklin Kelly, Senior Curator and Christiane Ellis Valone Curator of American Paintings, Department of American & British Paintings, National Gallery of Art
Cole’s sketching trip up the Hudson in the fall of 1825 marks an epoch in the history of American art.
—Alan Wallach, Ralph H. Wark Professor of Art and Art History Emeritus and Professor of American Studies Emeritus, William & Mary
Had he never made that trip, a whole genre of American painting might not have developed.
—Sophie Lynford, Annette Woolard-Provine Curator of the Bancroft Pre-Raphaelite Collection, Delaware Art Museum
These now-iconic works provided models for several generations of artists and continue to resonate with today’s audiences.
—Linda Ferber, Director Emerita of the New-York Historical Society
It was the rekindling of deeper appreciation of nature for American art, a relationship too easily forgotten in the name of progress. Cole’s visit would become part of a conversation crossing cultures that continues to this day.
—Scott Manning Stevens, Associate Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies, Associate Professor of English, Syracuse University

Cole’s first trip to the Catskills played a key role in shaping the trajectory of landscape painting in America. In his first painting of Kaaterskill Falls, the arch of the cavern frames the view, creating a literal and symbolic overture to reflect on how we connect with and revere the natural world.

—Erin Monroe, Krieble Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
200 years later, they continue to resonate with audiences, drawing us to the region to see the natural scenery that inspired him and the generations of American painters who followed in his footsteps.
—Shannon Vittoria, Associate Curator, American Art, LACMA
Cole’s appreciation for the landscape, and his advocacy for its preservation, is an urgent reminder to us today to value and care for our environment.
—Caroline Gillaspie, Assistant Curator of American Art, Brooklyn Museum
While we appreciate the environmental and cultural challenges facing us as we rip into the third millennium, how appropriate to celebrate Thomas Cole’s arrival in the Catskills, who understood 200 years ago how critical these issues truly were.
—Stephen Hannock, Artist
While we appreciate the environmental and cultural challenges facing us as we rip into the third millennium, how appropriate to celebrate Thomas Cole’s arrival in the Catskills, who understood 200 years ago how critical these issues truly were.
—Stephen Hannock, Artist

Left: Thomas Cole, Lake with Dead Trees (Catskill), 1825, oil on canvas, 27 x 33 3/3 in., Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, Bequest of Charles F. and Abigail L. Olney, 1904.1183 | Center: Though the location of the original 1825 painting is unknown, a second version from 1826 is in the Wadsworth Collection: Thomas Cole, Kaaterskill Falls, 1826, oil on canvas, 25 1/4 x 35 1/4 in., Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, Bequest of Daniel Wadsworth, 1848.15 | Right: Thomas Cole, View of Fort Putnam, 1825, oil on canvas, 27 1/4 x 34 in., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 125th Anniversary Aquisition, Gift of Charlene Sussel, 2018 | Cover: Hudson Talbott, detail from Picturing America: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Art

COLE 200: Timeline

Summer 1825

Thomas Cole makes his first extended sketching trip up the Hudson River, visiting the Hudson Highlands, the Catskill Mountain House, Kaaterskill Falls, and the Village of Catskill. The trip inspires five paintings, including Falls of the Kaaterskill, View of Fort Putnam, and Lake with Dead Trees.

October-November 1825 

Thomas Cole exhibits Falls of the Kaaterskill, View of Fort Putnam, and Lake with Dead Trees in the shop of New York picture dealer William A. Colman, where they are offered for sale at $25 each, the equivalent of $802 in 2025. The works attracted the attention of John Trumbull, known for his historical paintings of the American Revolutionary War, who purchases Falls of the Kaaterskilll. William Dunlap, a theater director and artist, purchases Lake with Dead Trees and and Asher Brown Durand, an engraver, purchases View of Fort Putnam.

November 14, 1825 

In a letter to Robert Gilmore of Baltimore, Trumbull reports, “A young man of the name of T. Cole, has just made his appearance here…[he] has surprised us with landscapes of the most uncommon merit.”

November 16, 1825

The president of the New-York Drawing Association, Samuel F. Morse, proposes Thomas Cole as a candidate for membership. Two months later when the association is transformed into the National Academy of Design, Thomas Cole is elected a founding member.

November 22, 1825

The New York Evening Post likens the paintings to “those works which have been the boast of Europe and the admiration of the ages” and The New-York Literary Gazette introduces Thomas Cole to its readers as an “American genius.”

Research from Shannon Vittoria, “Chronology,” Thomas Cole’s Journey, 2018, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

COLE 200: Hudson River School Art Trail

Visit the sites in nature that inspired Thomas Cole’s iconic anniversary paintings.

Falls of the Kaaterskill
Lake with Dead Trees

COLE 200: Classroom Lesson Plan

Download a free Grades 6-12 Lesson Plan for teachers to use Thomas Cole’s anniversary paintings to teach American history curriculum.

Lesson Plan

COLE 200: Children’s E-Book

Access the free online children’s e-book, “Picturing America: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Art,” for young readers by beloved children’s book author and illustrator Hudson Talbott.

E-Book

COLE 200: 36 Hours Itinerary

Embark on Thomas Cole’s favorite trip. Take a weekend adventure to the home of American landscape painting on the 200th anniversary of the trip that changed American art forever. Including lodging, dining, and shopping tips.

Itinerary

Explore our free digital guide on Bloomberg Connects

Explore audio, art, and more about the 200th anniversary of Thomas Cole’s 1825 trip to Catskill with our free digital guide on Bloomberg Connects:

Funded in Part by the Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

Jennifer GreimCOLE 200