The figure in 18th century dress pandered to the taste for 18th century scenes that had become fashionable in French salon painting and is also found in other works by Carl Larsson from his Grez period, including The Vine and
A Bite. The effect is slightly bizarre when combined with a landscape so distinctly in the plein-air realistic style. Nevertheless, Autumn is one of Carl Larsson’s finest watercolours, with its grey, misty landscape fading into thin, transparent hues behind the figure.