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The Mill, Sunset

Thomas Cole1844

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Thomas Cole's The Mill, Sunset shows an imagined landscape based on sites he visited in New England and upstate New York. The painter also relied on his thorough understanding of European art. Seventeenth-century Italian landscapes by Claude Lorrain inspired the general composition. The painting, however, reflects contemporary American beliefs and aspirations. The children in the foreground-Cole's own-imply America's promising future. The working mill at right signifies the importance of industry. The bucolic scene of rural life under the watch of the high mountain peak suggests the harmonious coexistence of community settlement and pristine wilderness guided by Divine Providence. Collectively, these features reflect the artist's high hopes for a national art that could favorably compete with Europe's.

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  • Title: The Mill, Sunset
  • Creator: Thomas Cole
  • Date Created: 1844
  • Physical Dimensions: Unframed: 26 1/8 x 36 1/16 inches (66.36 x 91.6 cm) Framed: 37 x 46 inches (93.98 x 116.84 cm)
  • Rights: Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through The Ever Glades Fund and exchange of a gift from the Howard P. Treadway and Tertia F. Treadway Collection
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Culture: American
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

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