The melancholy feel of Central Park in autumn

"At the turn of the 20th century, social realism was all the rage among New York’s painters, who created masterpieces inspired by the city’s tenements, saloons, and gritty waterfront. Impressionist artist Paul Cornoyer was different. Cornoyer painted New York’s blurred edges, bathing buildings and trees and people and puddles of water in somber tones or reflective streaks of rain or snow. At first glance 'Central Park Autumn,' from 1910, seems placid and benign; we’re at the boat pond close to East 73rd Street, a favorite of parkgoers then and now. But the autumn leaves and subdued bench sitters create a sense of melancholy stillness. Cornoyer 'has painted for us the New York that he felt,' one critic wrote in 1909, a year before this painting was completed."
Ephemeral New York

2019 January: A Gilded Age painter’s rainy, wintry New York