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Clouds

Thomas Cole American
ca. 1838
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 759
A keen observer of skies and weather conditions, Cole sketched and painted clouds throughout his career. These atmospheric effects play a central role in almost all his landscape compositions. Cole encountered oil sketches by British artists, including John Constable and J. M. W. Turner, during his travels in Europe from 1829 to 1832. He then embraced a similar outdoor painting practice. This study of a towering cloud formation in shades of gray, purple, and pure white was produced rapidly on the spot and displays palpable brushstrokes suggesting the immediacy of the artist’s perception.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Clouds
  • Artist: Thomas Cole (American, Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York)
  • Date: ca. 1838
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on paper laid down on canvas
  • Dimensions: 8 3/4 × 10 7/8 in. (22.2 × 27.6 cm)
  • Credit Line: Morris K. Jesup Fund, 2013
  • Object Number: 2013.201
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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Wilderness Landscape Study
Thomas Cole
ca. 1828–41
Shipwreck, Thomas Cole American, Graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Shipwreck
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Landscape with Tower (from McGuire Scrapbook), Thomas Cole American, Graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Landscape with Tower (from McGuire Scrapbook)
Thomas Cole
The Mountain Ford, Thomas Cole American, Oil on canvas, American
The Mountain Ford
Thomas Cole
1846
Sketch for View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm (The Oxbow), Thomas Cole American, Oil and pencil on composition board, American
Sketch for View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm (The Oxbow)
Thomas Cole
1836

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