
Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
by Thomas Cole
American artist Thomas Cole painted this view of Kaaterskill Falls in 1826, launching what historians call "the first genuinely American school of painting." The two-tiered waterfall plunges through autumn foliage in the Catskill Mountains, framed by rocky cliffs and ancient trees. A solitary Native American figure perches on a ledge, contemplating the wild scene.
Cole had visited the falls in 1825, but tourists had already built a viewing platform at the top. He deleted all evidence of human development, emphasizing the landscape's primitive sublimity. Daniel Wadsworth commissioned this version, which he later bequeathed to the Wadsworth Atheneum, America's oldest public art museum.
Other masterpieces from the Romanticism movement

Francisco Goya, 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Eugène Delacroix, 1834
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Francisco Goya, 1814
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Francisco Goya, 1800
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Francisco Goya, 1823
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Eugène Delacroix, 1827
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Francisco Goya, 1800
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

J.M.W. Turner, 1839
National Gallery, London
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
Browse Collection