The painter, Thomas Cole, depicted the ruined tower at sunset. The composition is created with the main objects: tower, sky, and stones. Thomas Cole created the painting in such a way that the tower is situated between the sunset sky and the stones. The sunset is on the background, while the stones are on the foreground. The painter chose a bright moment of nature: Thomas Cole painted the sea shore after the storm. In the upper right corner we can see thunderstorm clouds. Another element that makes us think that Cole represented the seashore after the storm is the twigs of several bushes near the tower. They are directed at the clouds. In other words, wind moves the storm away. Moreover, the sea is peaceful, which happen after the storm but not before it. Thomas Cole use colors of different tones to make the painting more vivid and deep. For example, the artist applies dark colors to depict the stones, and light ones to paint the sky and sea. It is obvious that the painter admires nature. He chooses very bright colors and uses contrasts to reveal the beauty of nature. The main colors of the painting are brown, yellow, and green.
Compared with The Riesengebirge by Caspar David Friedrich who applied the same colors, we may admit the mood of each painting is absolutely different. While Thomas Cole depicted an optimistic atmosphere of nature after the storm, a rebirth, Caspar David Friedrich represented a gloomy atmosphere of dawn in The Riesengebirge. Moreover, the first painting reveals the early sunset: vivid colors, a multitude of light tones. Caspar paints nature which prepares for the night: everything is still on the painting, everything is quiet. Speaking about Romantic Landscape with Ruined Tower, unlike the painting by Caspar it represents hope. We can see a bright spot of light in the background of the painting. It is nothing but a promise of enjoyable and beautiful light. Another aspect which is different in the two pictures is the season of the year. The Romantic Landscape with Ruined Tower depicts either early autumn or spring, while The Riesengebirge is a story about empty autumn: there are only a few trees in the foreground of the painting. However, they are painted in dark colors which makes them not so important for the composition.
The Romantic Landscape with Ruined Tower is a bright example of the Hudson River Valley movement paintings. Representatives of its school drew inspiration from nature. Thomas Cole as a representative of the Hudson River Valley movement created great works which were crammed with splendid details of nature. If you look more attentively at the old tower, you would see verdure on it. The theme of revival is very important for the painter. The world revives after the storm, the tower revives after it was destroyed and abandoned, a person revives after different obstacles in the course of life. Still, the painter paints the storm clouds in detail, that it becomes obvious that Thomas Cole sees different problems as an inevitable part of our life. The painter left the message that all positive moments in our life are felt deeply in full only after some bad moments. All is temporary in our life and hardship too.