Now is the time for all landscape artists to head for the woods and forests, in the northern hemisphere at least: autumn/fall is upon us, and the leaves are turning, setting those trees alight with their blazing colours. It’s the time of year when Camille Pissarro, even in his later years, would make a point of returning to his home in Éragny to paint its trees in their autumnal beauty.
To celebrate this annual orgy of chroma, here are two articles (the second tomorrow) showing a selection of some of the finest paintings of autumn trees from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards. Enjoy!
George Inness (1868), Across the Hudson Valley in the Foothills of the Catskills looks over the River Hudson, which runs south to New York City, towards the Catskill Mountains to the west.
Camille Pissarro (1871), Avenue in the Parc de Marly looks towards the village of Marly-le-Roi from the Port du Phare, inside the grounds of the Château de Marly, not far from Paris.
Claude Monet (1873), Autumn on the Seine, Argenteuil is to the north-west of Paris.
Camille Pissarro (1875), Cows Watering in The Pond at Montfoucault is near his friends the Piettes’ house in Normany, northern France. This is a plein air oil sketch for a finished studio painting.
Winslow Homer (1877), Autumn shows a woodland location on the east coast of the USA.
Auguste Renoir (1882), The Bridge at Argenteuil in Autumn shows the River Seine to the north-west of Paris.
Carl Larsson (1884), Rococo Idyll is a fan showing a fictional view, painted while this Swedish artist was living in Paris.
Alfred Sisley (c 1888), l’Etang de Chevreuil shows a pond near the River Loing to the south-east of Paris.
Vincent van Gogh (1888), Les Alyscamps, Avenue in Arles shows an avenue of poplars near the city of Arles in the south of France, where he and Paul Gauguin painted alongside one another on 28-31 October.
Claude Monet (1891), The Three Trees, Autumn is one of his series showing these poplars on the bank of the River Epte, not far from his home and studio in Giverny, to the north-west of Paris.
Camille Pissarro (1894), Autumn, Poplars, Éragny shows one of his favouries stands of poplar trees in Éragny, on the same River Epte to the north-west of Paris.
