Autumn Oaks

George Inness

ca. 1878 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

The composition of this picture is splendidly orchestrated, with a striking effect of unity and emphasis that did not exist in Inness's early works. He apparently painted this just after his return from four years abroad. His experience of painting in Italy and France led him away from naturalistic effects with much disparate detail toward coherent arrangements in which a single motif dominates, and everything else is subordinate. Here the sunlit trees dominate the entire landscape, their richness intensified by the deep foreground of shadow and blue violet tones of the lowering sky.

Artist

George Inness

Date

ca. 1878

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of George I. Seney, 1887