What Does It Mean To Grow Old?

Thomas Cole

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“At first we want life to be romantic; later, to be bearable; finally, to be understandable.”   Louise Bogan

Throughout the Transcendentalist era and even presently many men and women try to express their vision of life via their artistic abilities, whether it is by pen or brush. The journey each artist takes us on during the nineteenth century teaches us to enjoy the romantic elements, bear and endure the devastating elements, and at the end through our faith we will be granted an understanding by a view of the whole picture of life. The key to the grand picture is to move in faith. The elements that one will encounter will be of both good and evil but it is in one’s adoration that we will be able to see beauty in the darkest of places.

American Landscape art became an art form that described the spiritual impact experienced by a journey through the Hudson River Valley. Many artists wrote and sketched their vision of nature as a divine presence. Among these artists one was looked to as a forefather of their movement, Thomas Cole. Cole was not formally taught but by the 1830s had an overwhelming need to share the beauty, divinity, and sanctity he envisioned in the surrounding landscapes. Known for many of his paintings his most influential was a series of four paintings entitled The Voyage of Life. Within these canvases Cole thought to transcend a moral and religious impression on the audience. The paintings follow a pilgrim from infancy to adulthood and eventually death; but lead by the hand of an angel. The portraits of landscape lead the viewer through a reflection of one’s life. Among the challenges experienced over a lifetime one’s faith is constantly tested but will ultimately lead to one’s salvation. Cole has been noted as saying “There are many windings in the stream of life and on this idea I have proceeded, its course toward the ocean of eternity, we all know it to be certain but not direct… (Cedar Grove)”

The landscape art developed in this time period helped to shape a nation. The vision was to embrace the purity and beauty of nature in the sublime and transcend that into one’s everyday life.  Once this incorporation has been achieved even in the most minimal of senses one may uncover his or her personal merits for growing old.

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