Autumn Leaves by John Everett Millais

This picture can be considered the first attempt by Milles to move away from the narrative and historical plots that have become familiar to him. In November 1854, he decided to write a canvas that would awaken philosophical thoughts about the transience of life, about time. At that time, the artist was visiting his friend, the poet Tennyson.

One evening he helped him collect and burn fallen leaves. Milles’ memories of those autumn twilight turned out to be so strong that they pushed him to create this sad canvas.

The composition of the painting is simple: yellow-red leaves, smoke rising from the fire, and figures of young girls. Milles wrote in Scotland, in the garden of the house where he and his wife lived the first time after the wedding. The four girls are the younger sisters Effie, Alice and Sophie Gray, and the local women.