This early canvas was completed in 1884 and is now housed in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It depicts a lone figure of a woman, head covered and clothed in shadow, walking towards the viewer on the right side of a darkening path. The painting evokes an atmosphere of isolation and melancholy, enhanced by the rich autumnal colours and the theme of the dying day. Threatening shadows slash across the path, heightening the sinister mood.
In October 1884, van Gogh described the work to his brother Theo, an art dealer living and working in Amsterdam, explaining that “the last thing I made is a rather large study of an avenue of poplars, with yellow autumn leaves, the sun casting, here and there, sparkling spots on the fallen leaves on the ground, alternating with the long shadows of the stems. At the end of the road is a small cottage, and over it all the blue sky through the autumn leaves.”