The Hudson River School was a 19th century American school of landscape painting related to Romanticism. The school got its name because the artists in this group first became known for paintings of the Hudson Valley and nearby areas.

Hudson River School paintings are known for reflecting three main themes of America in the 19th century: discovery, exploration, and settlement. The paintings also depict the American landscape as a pastoral setting, where human beings and nature can coexist peacefully.

The artist Thomas Cole is acknowledged as the founder of the school. His collaborator and friend, Asher Durand, was a prominent figure in the school as well. Other Hudson River School artists include Jasper Francis Cropsey, Thomas Doughty, Albert Bierstadt, George Inness, Thomas Moran, John Frederick Kensett, and Cole's protege, Frederick Edwin Church. Later works are often described as luminism .

Today, the world's largest collection of Hudson River School landscapes can be seen at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. Some of the most notable works contained the in Atheneum's collection are 13 landscapes by Thomas Cole and 11 by Hartford native Frederick Edwin Church, both of whom were personal friends of the museum's founder, Daniel Wadsworth .