The Oxbow (View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm)
1836 · Oil on canvas · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Thomas Cole (1801–1848)
- Year
- 1836
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 130.8 × 193 cm
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Movement
- Hudson River School
From the summit of Mount Holyoke, Cole looks down on the Connecticut River looping back on itself in the great bend called the Oxbow. A thunderstorm is clearing: to the left a wild, storm-lashed slope with a blasted tree, to the right a sunlit patchwork of farms, fields and hay along the river. The two halves have been read ever since as wilderness and civilisation set face to face. Cole painted it in 1836 for the National Academy of Design exhibition, at the urging of his patron Luman Reed, as a break from the labour of The Course of Empire. He put himself in the picture: a tiny figure at lower centre, pausing from a sketch to look back at the viewer. The canvas was given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Mrs Russell Sage in 1908.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A storm-lashed slope beside sunlit farmland with a river looping below, a wide American landscape for a living room, study or dining room at 24×36 in black. A sage, cream or warm grey wall; it suits a room with wood furniture and views.
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Hudson River School painting
- Era
- 19th century (1836)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, dining room, dorm room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm — The Oxbow in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm — The Oxbow painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
The full-bleed edition
The same plate printed edge-to-edge, filling the whole sheet — bold and immersive.
