By the Stream, Autumn

Gauguin's 'By the Stream, Autumn' (1885) is a landscape subject from his transitional period — the stream and autumn setting providing a subject of modest, naturalistic beauty that he approached with his developing formal instincts. The autumn stream was a classic landscape subject allowing investigation of reflective water, seasonal color, and the specific quality of autumn light in the French countryside. His 1885 handling would show the Impressionist influence still operative while his compositional instincts moved toward the deliberate organization that would characterize his Synthetist work.

Gauguin builds the autumn stream landscape through his developing approach to color and form — the autumn foliage's warm tones and the stream's reflective surface providing the primary chromatic material. His handling is more structured than pure Impressionism while not yet achieving the bold simplification of his Pont-Aven Synthetist works. The stream provides the compositional spine through the autumnal landscape.