A Tale of Autumn
Helmer Osslund, Autumn, 1907. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.
October in London felt the cool brush of autumn blowing in. Like Anne, I love this season, it speaks of new beginnings and provides a refreshing exhale after the hot busyness of the summer. But for many, this short season is one of mourning. They lament the loss of long days and the freedom to go out with bare skin, and fear the oncoming cold and darkness of the winter. L.M Montgomery’s Anne, like many creative souls before and after, finds solace in the beauty and individuality of autumn, seeing it as a kindred spirit. Putting it simply, it is Anne’s surprisingly rare gift of truly noticing that makes all the seasons feel like a magical gift crafted just for her, and perhaps we too can follow in her footsteps. Here are a few works from artists who have captured this short season to get you into the same mood…
An Autumn Breeze
Swedish artist Helmer Osslund depicted the vast expanse of northern Sweden in a variety of seasons. In 1907, he illustrated an autumn scene in the north west of Sweden, originally part of a quartet of seasonal works.This painting has become one of his most celebrated. There is something truly atmospheric about this work; the foliage in the foreground seems to spill out of its frame, and the bending trees seem to be dancing with the wind.
Osslund has artfully captured the senses that the autumn teases, the movements of the elements and the cold light contrasted with the warm yellows and oranges of the flying leaves. It is likely, if you live in the northern hemisphere, that you are surrounded by similar sights everyday at the moment as the trees shake off their time in the sun and the winter berries burst. Even on the greyest of days, there is something to notice and appreciate, delights in colour abound.
Melodies for October and November
Chant d’automne
Autumn, our poor garden is all falling down,
the yellowed leaves are flying in the wind.
– Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy
Most of us will have come across Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at some point, perhaps listened to in its entirety or used in the background of some TV show or other, but other musicians have also been inspired by the idiosyncratic changes of the season. Pyotr Tchaikovsky composed a suite of twelve short piano pieces characterising each season. Commissioned by the editor of a St. Petersburg music magazine, the pieces are short and tuneful and were originally published with a corresponding seasonal epigraph.
October: Autumn Song is at once mournful and playful. It is possible to hear a slight melancholy as the seasons change from life to death but there are little swirls of light-hearted melodies that are reminiscent of a gust of wind whipping leaves off the trees. This quiet playfulness comes into its own in his November tune November: On the Troika. For those not in the know, a troika is a type of Russian riding arrangement, usually using three horses and a sleigh. Tchaikovsky’s November: On the Troika is wonderfully lyrical; it feels nostalgic of lost days in childhood dedicated to sleigh rides or playing in the cold at the end of autumn or beginning of winter, before the bones have set to an icy frost. Only three minutes long, this piece is perfect to get you into an autumn mood. Perhaps listen to these two back to back on a short walk in your neighbourhood?
A Tale of Autumn
Harvest time for grapes, the world has turned again…
If life is a journey, we hope your weather’s fair
-Song, A Tale of Autumn
Other creatives take the season as a spur to explore internal and psychological worlds. Proclaimed French filmmaker Eric Rohmer completed a quartet of films against the backdrop of each season in the 1990s. His final instalment A Tale of Autumn follows the story of middle-aged widow Magali and her internal struggle between wanting new love and being afraid of it at a later age. Whilst there are tell tale signs of autumn — nicely knitted jumpers, a variety of squashes on the table and the backdrop of the grape harvest — Rohmer is really seeking to explore a single woman’s feeling of no longer being in the fresh and burning passion of her youth, and her movement into a slower phase of her life. She is reckoning with the human experience of feeling truly young at heart but no longer being twenty. Visually this film is appealing, the shots feel warm and inviting, and the lack of music pulls us into the intimacy of the characters’ experiences.
As October waves a passing hand to November, I hope, like Anne, Osslund, Tchaikovsky and countless others, to open my senses to the changes around me. Perhaps we could all do with feeling alive to the world in all its states, and find inspiration and beauty in the coolest months as well as the warmest.