Cole. Thomas - The Course of Empire: The Savage State (1836)

Thomas Cole did not paint a storm because he wanted to capture the weather. He painted it to remind humanity that we are small and the natural world is terrifying. It was 1836 and the city of New York was booming with loud arrogance. Luman Reed paid Cole to paint the rise and fall of civilization. Cole started at the brutal beginning with The Course of Empire The Savage State.

Rich patrons initially hated it. They wanted polite and pretty landscapes for their warm drawing rooms. Instead Cole gave them an oil on canvas warning that felt like a direct threat to polite society. Dark storm clouds roll over a wild and unbroken valley. The air feels heavy and dangerous. Down below a lone hunter chases a deer through the thick brush. This is mankind stripped of ego and reduced to absolute basic survival. We are not masters of the universe here. We are just another hungry animal trying to stay alive in the mud.

Through all the swirling chaos one single thing stays grounded. A distinct mountain peak rises in the distance and anchors the background. It watches the desperate hunter just as it will watch the eventual flaming ruin of everything humanity tries to build over the remaining four paintings in the series. Cole knew that empires rise and fall but the indifferent rock always remains. Reed hung this massive piece in his private New York gallery and let the local elite stare into the primitive abyss. They built their fortunes thinking they tamed the wild world. Cole painted this masterpiece to tell them they were absolutely wrong.

References

Cole, Thomas. The Course of Empire The Savage State. 1836. Oil on canvas. New York Historical Society.

Parry, Ellwood C. The Art of Thomas Cole Ambition and Imagination. University of Delaware Press, 1988.

Powell, Earl A. Thomas Cole. Harry N. Abrams, 1990.

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