FLASH SITE
October (Autumn) was based on a watercolour study. The study, which is now in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery, was painted in the village of Zatishye in the Tver region, on the estate of Nikolai Panaphidin, Lika Mizinova's uncle; she herself was a friend of the painter Isaac Levitan and the writer Anton Chekhov. In this canvas, painted in lifeless faded tones, the decomposition of nature in the fall is rendered with a great deal of finesse; this mood corresponds to the anguish experienced by the artist and the feeling of solitude in his soul. Levitan knew better than anyone else how to render the leaden autumn sky of Central Russia, so expressive and so beautiful, by dotting the greyness with clear blue and violet. The addition of grey and ochre to the vague outlines of the birch trees trembling in the wind, and the lacelike effect of the golden leaves, elicit a genuine feeling of gentle sadness.
