Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole is considered the founder of the Hudson River School. His detailed landscape paintings make him one of the most important representatives of this group of artists. The artist, who was born in England, gained his first artistic experience with the production of wooden printing blocks. The Cole family emigrated to America, where Thomas worked in the family's own wallpaper factory.

Cole learned to paint with oil paints, but first attempts in the popular portrait painting were not successful. Instead, Thomas Cole concentrated on landscapes. Satisfied with the result, the painter spent his free time in nature and studied the landscapes of his surroundings. But naturalistic depiction was not enough for the artist. Deeply religious, he saw the connection between nature and religion, which he expressed in his works as well as historical events. He enjoyed the original nature and undertook study trips along the Hudson. "Our society only aspires to accomplish something rather than to enjoy something," he critically noted. He declaimed the important influence of imagination and artistic freedom to complete works with symbolic language and his own impressions.

Cole created the cycle The Voyage of Life with his interpretation of childhood, youth, manhood and old age. The biblical garden blossoms in the pair of paintings The garden of Eden and The Expulsion from the garden of Eden.