Writing in 1757, Edmund Burke defines the sublime as an experience of awe and terror, placing nature as something that overwhelms and threatens. This was the approach of several artists like Frederic Church and Albert Bierstadt as they painted daunting landscapes, diminishing the viewer. However, looking purposefully at the featured artists challenges this concept. These landscapes are not a source of terror, but of solace. Unlike the daunting Andes of Frederic Church, these views are a place of refuge and belonging.
The artists featured saw their landscapes not as terrifying, but as restorative. These paintings by Gifford, Cole, Homer, Constable, Cézanne, and O’Keeffe portray the landscapes as peaceful rather than threatening. They represent home. Nature is not something that terrifies, but something that soothes and holds. Thomas Cole remarks that he often looks upon the Catskills with a loving eye, not a fearful one.
The sublime, as these artists experience it, is not in the object of nature, but in the relationship between the artist and the landscape, built through repetition and return. Sanford Robinson Gifford returned to the same gorge for nearly twenty years finding refuge in it, even from his time in the Civil War. Paul Cézanne painted views of Monte Sainte-Victoire over eighty times. Georgia O’Keeffe felt not only a sense of belonging in her New Mexico cliffs, but a feeling of ownership. This behavior mirrors what Yi-Fu Tuan called “Topophilia,” the notion that people have deep affectionate bonds with the environment. This exhibition traces not the terror of sublimity, but the solace that these artists feel.
A Gorge in the Mountains(Kauterskill Clove)
Sanford Robinson Gifford, 1862
Oil on canvas, 48 x 39 ⅞ in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15.30.62
This warm composition is the first in a series of many that Gifford paints of Kauterskill Clove until he dies nearly twenty years later. Gifford illuminates a scenic view over a river gorge landscape, unified by a neutralizing yellow hue across the tall, forty-eight by nearly forty inch canvas. This painting exemplifies Luminism, a nineteenth century American style characterized by hazy, glowing uses of light, often conveying a spiritual reality. According to Barbara Novak, this use of light reflects a new type of relationship with the landscape than the earlier Hudson River School. Here, Gifford unifies the work with this luministic warmth, making the landscape’s sublimity restorative rather than terrifying. The landscape painter was said to have loved these mountains as he loved his mother, and he visited them just as often. This is a window into a more Romantic sublime, with its luminous quality instilling peace. Clearly Gifford’s relationship with this landscape reflected his love for it, not his fear of it.
View on the Catskills — Early Autumn
Thomas Cole, 1836-37
Oil on canvas, 39 x 63 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 95.13.3
While Thomas Cole is often attributed to the terror side of the sublime, that is not always the case. Here, Cole paints a soft and tranquil landscape just miles from Kauterskill Clove. This view of the Catskill Creek area was one frequently visited by the famous landscape painter until he became a resident of the community. Cole increases the level of drama in the Romantic sublime and depicts humanity in a way that makes this work feel more like home than Gifford’s gorge. Threatened by the growth of the railroad, Cole lamented the destruction of his “favorite haunt” as the foliage was disrupted for the Catskill Railroad construction. This term shows the depth of Cole’s feelings for the area, which he said that he looked upon often with a loving eye. The scene is vibrant, yet serene. Cole paints this before the solace is interrupted by the railroad, showing the peacefulness of the natural landscape.
Northeaster
Winslow Homer, 1895; reworked by 1901
Oil on canvas, 34 1/2 x 50 in
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 10.64.5
While Winslow Homer’s Northeaster depicts strong crashing waves, this still represents more of the concept of solace than terror. Homer paints this scene on the coast of Maine, where he escaped from the busyness of New York. Originally, the artists included two human figures crouching on the rocks, but he replaced them with crashing waves. This is where Kant’s comments on the sublime are helpful. He asserts that the sublime is not in the object of nature, but in the relationship between the artist and the landscape. On this coast, even the crashing waves and the inherent roaring of the sea present solace in the sublime through the artist’s relationship with the landscape. While seemingly opposites, both Gifford’s golden haze and Homer’s powerful waves display the sublime as a space for refuge.
Hampstead Heath with Bathers
John Constable, 1821-22
Oil on canvas, 9 ⅝ x 15 ⅜ in
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.400.26
This feeling of solace in nature wasn’t distinctly American. Across the Atlantic, John Constable escapes to this landscape in Hampstead from London’s intense summer heat and polluted air. At this homestead, Constable’s wife, Maria, could live in cleaner air to help treat her tuberculosis. This place frees Constable and his family from the heat and effects of the city. The sublime shows itself through the soft clouds and the grandeur of the peaceful atmosphere. This is just one of about one hundred sketches that Constable did here, showing his lasting relationship with the landscape. It is in reference to this place that Constable is often quoted in saying that he should “paint [his] own places best. Painting is just another word for feeling.” It is clear that John Constable feels a sense of ownership over this place and finds a feeling of solace in this landscape.
Mont Sainte-Victoire
Paul Cézanne, ca. 1902-6
Oil on canvas, 22 ½ x 38 ¼ in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.420
Paul Cézanne sketches the Mont Sainte-Victoire around eighty times over more than thirty years. This particular impressionist painting shows a more intimate relationship between the artist and the landscape, showing the depth of his knowledge of the terrain. Not only does Cézanne form a relationship through repetition, but the Mont Sainte-Victoire has a spiritual connection as well. Cézanne’s fascination stems partly from the ancient idea of this as a holy mountain where gods were born and resided. But for Cézanne, it was an inner god shown through the peak, a striving and desire for repose. The sublimity of this landscape reflects a solace in relationship and rest in this place. Cézanne polishes this painting for years before he is finished, reflecting a deeper connection to the environment.
Red and Yellow Cliffs
Georgia O’Keeffe, 1940
Oil on canvas, 24 × 36 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.377.4
Georgia O’Keeffe paints these cliffs at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico where she bought a house. When she first sees these vibrant cliffs she claims them to be her own. These cliffs of the American Southwest are to Georgia O’Keeffe, as the Mont Sainte-Victoire and Kauterskill Clove are to Cézanne and Gifford. The modern artist paints her cliffs seven times, continuing the narrative of relationship between the artist and the landscape. Like Winslow Homer, this home in New Mexico is a product of her escape from the effects of New York. These immense cliffs — set into scale by the pocket of blue sky in the upper left corner — show sublimity as solace. O’Keeffe sees these cliffs as a place of belonging and rest from the pressures of the world. Her relationship is territorial and intimate as these cliffs are the only place where she can breathe naturally and feel at home.
References
Avery, Kevin J., and Franklin Kelly, eds. Hudson River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
Burke, Edmund. A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1757.
Cézanne, Paul. Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley. 1882–85. Oil on canvas, 25 3/4 × 32 1/8 in. H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435877.
Cole, Thomas. "Essay on American Scenery." American Monthly Magazine 1 (January 1836): 1–12.
Cole, Thomas. View on the Catskill—Early Autumn. 1836–37. Oil on canvas, 39 × 63 in. Gift in memory of Jonathan Sturges by his children, 1895. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10501.
Gifford, Sanford Robinson. A Gorge in the Mountains (Kauterskill Clove). 1862. Oil on canvas, 48 × 39 7/8 in. Bequest of Maria DeWitt Jesup, from the collection of her husband, Morris K. Jesup, 1914. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10946.
Homer, Winslow. Northeaster. 1895, reworked by 1901. Oil on canvas, 34 1/2 × 50 in. Gift of George A. Hearn, 1910. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11130.
Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Judgment. Translated by Werner S. Pluhar. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1987. First published 1790.
Novak, Barbara. "Luminism: An Alternative Tradition." In American Painting of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Praeger, 1969.
O'Keeffe, Georgia. Red and Yellow Cliffs. 1940. Oil on canvas, 24 × 36 in. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1986. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/484833.
Phillips Collection. "Mont Sainte-Victoire." Accessed April 23, 2026. https://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/mont-sainte-victoire.
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