One Artwork, One Story

No. 208 Autumn – oil on canvas – 1965

In 1955, following his discovery of Western painting, Chu Teh-Chun freed himself from figurative art and enriched his palette with an immense range of subtle tones. This stylistic liberation paved the way for a more intimate form of expression, nourished by a profound sensitivity to the rhythm of the seasons and the ever-changing nature of the landscape.

Nature, in its continual transformation, served as a constant source of inspiration. The same landscape, from one day to the next, could undergo dramatic change—revealing new light and stirring fresh emotions. Autumn, as a season of transition and metamorphosis, offered him an inexhaustible palette. He captured its most delicate nuances, from soft gradations of browns and oranges to vibrant, fiery reds—like flickers of shifting, striking light.

This painting is a perfect illustration: a pictorial celebration of beauty that is both ephemeral and powerful, fragile yet radiant.

In China, the Mid-Autumn Festival marks the heart of the season. Celebrated on the evening of the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, it coincides with the brightest full moon of the year and celebrates reunion, harmony, and family bonds. Wherever one may be, all eyes turn to the same moon—sharing a moment of unity and poetry.

Through this work, Chu Teh-Chun invites us into that same contemplative gaze: a suspended moment where light, form, and colour become a universal language.

Painting: No. 208 Autumn – oil on canvas – 1965 © ADAGP Paris 2025 / Fondation CHU Teh-Chun