Autumn paintings: 14 works in fall colour
Golden woods by George Inness, a Hudson River October, chrysanthemums from Renoir to Hokusai and a harvest table or two: fourteen pictures for the season.
Autumn is the season painters wait for. The light drops lower and turns gold, the woods go russet and amber, and the harvest fills the table. Landscape painters in America and Europe went out in October to catch it, Japanese artists celebrated the autumn moon and the chrysanthemum, and still life painters piled up apples, grapes and game.
The fourteen pictures below gather all of it, from woods and mountains to flowers and fruit. Every one can be ordered as a print, and where a picture has its own Fable style you can also see your own portrait made in it.
1. Sunny Autumn Day
George Inness, Sunny Autumn Day, 1892. Oil on canvas. Cleveland Museum of Art.
George Inness painted the American autumn as a feeling more than a view. In this picture of 1892 one tree burns russet and gold in a field of soft haze, and the late afternoon light seems to hum. It is about as close as a landscape gets to a mood.
A warm, glowing landscape for a living room or a bedroom in the colder months.
2. Autumn Woods
George Inness, Autumn Woods, 1891–94. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago.
Inness returned to the woods again and again in his last years. In Autumn Woods, painted in the early 1890s, the whole picture is amber and bronze, and the light at the centre of the clearing draws you in like a fire.
A deep, warm picture for a study, a den or a reading room with wood and leather.
3. An October Day in the White Mountains
John Frederick Kensett, An October Day in the White Mountains, 1854. Oil on canvas. Cleveland Museum of Art.
John Frederick Kensett travelled to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to paint scenes like this October day in 1854. The lake is perfectly still, the slopes are warm with turning trees, and the whole picture breathes calm. It is the Hudson River School at its most peaceful.
A serene, spacious landscape for above a sofa or a bed.
4. Autumn and Death
Arnold Böcklin, Autumn and Death, 1871.
Arnold Böcklin turned the season into a poem. In this picture of 1871 a cloaked rider passes through a wood as the wind tears off the last leaves, and a pale ruin stands against the storm. It is autumn as a story about time passing.
A dramatic, moody picture for a library, a hallway or a dark-walled room.
5. Farmer Returning Home in Autumn
Yosa Buson, Farmer Returning Home in Autumn, 1781. Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk. Cleveland Museum of Art.
Yosa Buson was both a great haiku poet and a painter, and this hanging scroll of 1781 has the brevity of his poems. A farmer leads his ox home at the end of the day, through thin trees and open space. Almost nothing is shown, and the whole season is there.
A calm, minimal picture that suits a Japandi interior, a bedroom or a meditation corner.
6. The Autumn Moon in the Mirror
Suzuki Harunobu, The Autumn Moon in the Mirror, c. 1766. Color woodblock print; chuban. Art Institute of Chicago.
In Japan the autumn moon is the most beautiful of the year, and moon viewing is still a celebration. Suzuki Harunobu, the inventor of the full-colour woodblock print, shows a woman and child admiring its reflection in a basin of water, around 1766.
A soft, gentle print for a bedroom or a nursery.
7. Chrysanthemum and Horsefly
Katsushika Hokusai, Chrysanthemum and Horsefly, c. 1831–33. Color woodblock print, oban. Art Institute of Chicago.
Hokusai is known for the Great Wave, but his large flower prints of the early 1830s are just as remarkable. A single chrysanthemum, the flower of autumn and of the Japanese emperor, opens on the page while a tiny horsefly comes in to land.
A bright, graphic print for a kitchen, a hallway or a modern living room.
8. Chrysanthemums
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Chrysanthemums, 1881–82. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago.
Renoir painted this bouquet around 1881, when chrysanthemums were the fashionable autumn flower in Paris. He sets them down in quick, thick strokes, so the vase seems to fizz with colour.
A cheerful flower piece for a dining room or an entrance hall.
9. Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Petit-Gennevilliers
Gustave Caillebotte, Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Petit-Gennevilliers, 1893. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Gustave Caillebotte was a passionate gardener, and in 1893 he filled a whole canvas with the chrysanthemums he grew at Petit-Gennevilliers. There is no sky and no path, just flowers in the late season light. It is a garden picture at its most immersive.
A full, rich flower picture for a wall you want to fill with colour.
10. Autumn
Louis-Félix de La Rue after François Boucher, Autumn, 18th century. Harvard Art Museums.
For eighteenth-century France, autumn meant the grape harvest, and Boucher’s seasons were copied and engraved all over Europe. This Autumn shows children and vines in soft rococo light, a celebration of plenty.
A soft, decorative picture for a dining room or a bedroom.
11. The Huntsman’s Bounty
Frans Snyders, The Huntsman's Bounty, 1614. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago.
Frans Snyders was Rubens’s favourite collaborator for animals and food, and in 1614 he filled this stall with the produce of the autumn hunt and harvest. Hares, birds, apples and gourds pile up in a display of overwhelming plenty.
A big, generous still life for a dining room or a country kitchen.
12. Still Life with Apples and Pears
Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Apples and Pears, ca. 1891–92. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Cézanne painted apples for thirty years and said he wanted to astonish Paris with one. In this still life of the early 1890s the fruit sits heavy and solid on a rumpled cloth, seen from several angles at once. It is the masterwork behind Fable’s Apples and pears style.
A warm, modern still life for a kitchen or a breakfast nook.
Create your portrait in this style
13. Still Life with Peaches and Grapes
Auguste Renoir, Still Life with Peaches and Grapes, 1881. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Late summer fruit at its ripest: Renoir painted these peaches and grapes in 1881, soft and warm against a cool blue ground. The brushwork is so loose the fruit almost seems to glow.
A gentle, sunny picture for a kitchen or a small dining room.
14. Karin Peeling Apples
Carl Larsson, Karin Peeling Apples, 1904.
Carl Larsson painted his wife Karin at home in Sundborn again and again. Here, in 1904, she peels apples at a sunny white table, one of the small rituals of the season. The light, clean colours are pure Larsson.
A bright, homely picture for a Scandinavian kitchen or a breakfast room.
Autumn pictures are the easiest seasonal change you can make to a room. Swap a pale summer landscape for one of Inness’s golden woods in September, or hang a harvest still life in the kitchen until Thanksgiving. Warm ochres and rusts sit beautifully with wood, wool and candlelight, and they carry a room straight into winter. Every print here comes from a museum scan and is printed whole. When the leaves are gone, turn to our winter landscape paintings, or look back at summer in garden paintings.
Questions
What colours work best for autumn wall art?
Ochre, rust, amber, olive green and deep brown are the classic autumn palette. They pair well with natural wood, leather, wool and warm lighting.
Who painted the best autumn landscapes?
George Inness and the Hudson River School painters such as John Frederick Kensett are famous for American autumns. In Europe, the Barbizon painters and the Impressionists painted fall woods and gardens.
Why are chrysanthemums an autumn flower in art?
Chrysanthemums bloom in autumn. In Japan they are the emblem of the season and of the imperial family, and in France they became a favourite of Impressionist gardeners such as Caillebotte and Monet.
Can I rotate art with the seasons?
Yes, and it is an easy way to refresh a room. Keep a few prints of the same size, and swap them in the same frame or on the same picture ledge as the seasons change.