Autumn Fields 1990

Eyvind Earle painted "Autumn Fields" as a landscape teeming with motifs of nature's cycles. Notice how the trees, with their round canopies, are densely grouped together, creating a visual rhythm that evokes both harmony and enclosure. Across cultures, the tree symbolizes life, growth, and interconnectedness, often seen as a link between the earthly and the divine. In this landscape, the trees form a community, a visual echo of the human societies mirrored throughout art history. Consider the "axis mundi," the world tree, a recurring motif in mythologies from the Norse Yggdrasil to the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. It's a symbol of connection and orientation. Here, the trees are a dense wood, a forest of the unconscious. These trees might tap into our collective memory, touching on our primal connection to nature. This landscape resonates with the human psyche, calling to mind our deep, subconscious longing for belonging. Just as symbols evolve and reappear, our understanding of nature's place in our lives continues its cyclical journey.