As with so many of Thomson’s paintings, the subject of this painting is an ordinary one he might have found in almost any of the places he travelled. What he has done, however, is take a scene common to Algonquin Park and, with tense concentration, transform it into an extraordinary one. As viewers thread their way around and through the receding mesh of branches, they encounter an array of riches: a glimpse of the full autumn colours and their reflections on the river’s surface, or a line of sight through to the bend in the river or even to the hill in the distance on the right.