Autumn. Arhip Kuindzhi (Kuindschi) (1842-1910)

Description of Arkhip Kuindzhi’s Autumn

Among Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi’s paintings, Autumn is not the most famous painting. However, it draws you in with its quiet charm. The forest landscape with the trees and the barely visible path seems a little gloomy, which conveys the feeling of an inexorable shortening of the daylight hours. Nature is preparing for winter. Only one tree - it’s in the very center of the composition - stubbornly continues to turn green. Perhaps because it is alone and receives a little more light than the others. All around is a riot of colors in the fall.

There are golden trees in the background. Most likely they are birch trees. To the left of the "stubborn" tree, also in the distance, is a red maple. Some of the foliage is colored brown, and the sky is grayish, as if pierced by the threads of the beginning fine rain. Only the crimson on the right side of the canvas, and the red bushes clustered along the path, remind us that the sleepy rays of sunset are still shining through the clouds.

Judging by the rich foliage of the tree crowns, the artist caught early autumn. The trees seem to have frozen in anticipation of the cold, but this landscape is still permeated with the remnants of summer heat, carefully preserved by the autumn forest. The forest seems to be covered with a light haze, as you might find at the end of an autumn day, when the air is slowly cooling down, giving way to the wet coolness of the night.

Autumn cannot be unequivocally attributed to Impressionism. This is also true for all of Kuindzhi’s art. But the influence of this European movement can be felt here. However, Arkhip Ivanovich did not limit himself within a certain style, but instead developed his own unique manner. This made his paintings recognizable, and he himself - famous. The master had many pupils and followers, many of whom also earned themselves the fame of great artists.