The Autumn Dance

About this work

Nothing here stands still. The raised arm pulls the eye up and to one side, the extended arm sweeps it across, and the drapery whips around her body in orange and terracotta curves that never quite settle. Even the hair joins in, its auburn curls flying with the turn of the head. Behind the dancer the great gold circle, glowing like a low autumn sun, gives the movement a fixed centre, and the cream ground keeps all that colour from becoming heavy. Leaves drift through the air in orange and gold, small accents that lead the eye around the sheet. In the lower right an ornamental panel adds a quieter, structured corner. Close up, the leaves and folds show crisp line work; from across the room the image becomes a single warm spiral of colour.

Mucha's decorative panels were colour lithographs printed without advertising text and sold as affordable art for ordinary homes, a fresh idea in the 1890s. His first great success in the format was The Seasons of 1896, four women standing for spring, summer, autumn and winter. Two years later came The Arts, a set of four showing Dance, Painting, Poetry and Music, each personified as a woman. The Autumn Dance brings those two series together in a composition of its own: the season of falling leaves and the art of movement in one figure. Like those panels, it is meant to be hung and lived with rather than to advertise anything.

The Zodiac Muse shares the copper hair and would hang well beside it as a pair. For a warmer, more modern mix, add Sage Arches and Golden Sun, whose terracotta bands and gold sun repeat this palette. Walls in rust, ochre, oatmeal, warm white or even olive green suit the leaves; cool grey can make them look tired. A honey oak or brass frame keeps things warm, with a cream mat for breathing space. Evening lamplight deepens the oranges nicely. Printed from the 7168 × 10752 px file, it keeps sharp detail to about 60 × 90 cm, plenty for a statement above a sofa. Owners of a Samsung Frame get a Frame TV version with a gallery mat included.