MJ Robinson:

I wonder what artistic techniques the painter uses to make this landscape look so dramatic, majestic, and ominous. I see high contrast. Cole painted using light and dark colors that change quickly. Maybe there's a storm rolling in from the right side of the picture.

I also notice my gaze keeps swinging back and forth along the curves of the pastel colored mountains in the distance. The darkening clouds, orange light, and shadows on the mountains and cliffs in the middle ground and the scraggly broken tree in the foreground, which looks broken and dead, but also somewhat alive because it still has some leaves on it.

Another detail in this picture that I find fascinating is the small figure standing by a waterfall near the center of the painting. To me, it looks as if they're pointing toward the direction that the sunlight is coming from. I also noticed they're holding a staff or stick. They have a warm, medium dark skin tone, and they're wearing a bluish dress or a tunic and something on their head. Based on some of these details and other paintings I've seen by Thomas Cole, I believe he's probably depicting a Native American person.