Gathering Autumn Flowers

William Merritt Chase

National Gallery of Art

The painting depicts a golden, grassy landscape with low green trees in the distance, leading towards vibrant blue water on the horizon. The field is streaked with patches of brown, light pink, light blue, rusty red, dark green, and dark red. People dressed in white are scattered throughout the field; closest to us, on the right, a child sits in the grass next to a pale green parasol. The child has pale skin, rosy cheeks, and dark hair visible under a white bonnet. They wear a white gown and black shoes, and they hold something yellow on their lap. In front of them is a red bucket, and behind them is a small orange cart. Farther away from us, on the left, a woman in a long white dress and a tan hat kneels or sits in the grass, and to the right another person stands even farther away near the low green trees, wearing a white dress and a red hat. The sky above is light blue, with soft, fluffy white clouds drifting across it. The painting employs soft, loose brushstrokes.