As summer slides into fall, Newfields experiences the changing seasons in a variety of different ways. From the crisp air and color-changing leaves in The Garden and The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, to the opening and closing of exhibitions inside the Indianapolis Museum of Art. This transitional time is the perfect opportunity to get in one last viewing of Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in the June M. McCormack Forefront Galleries, before it closes September 28.

As a keen observer of the world around her, Alma Thomas relished the ways in which seasonal changes and weather patterns impact nature. Whether exploring the numerous parks in Washington, D.C., or studying her lovingly cultivated backyard garden, nature proved to be a lifelong source of inspiration.

Alma Thomas (American, 1891–1978), Fall Begins, 1976, acrylic on canvas, 52 x 45 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.1 © 2025 Estate of Alma Thomas (Courtesy of the Hart Family) / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Thomas’ deployment of color, in combination with descriptive artwork titles, tells us much about what she was observing and how the natural environment influenced her creative production. Painted two years before her death at age 86, Alma Thomas created Fall Begins from the kitchen studio in her D.C. townhome. The application of red brushstrokes on top of variations of green recalls the early indicators of fall, when some eager trees shift their colors before the rest of the surrounding flora. You can see this happen in The Garden at Newfields by observing the maples (Acer species) and blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica) trees herald the changing season with their shockingly red leaves.

Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) in Newfields’ Horticultural Society Overlook Garden

Fittingly, this year, Alma Thomas’ 134th birthday on September 22 is also the Autumn Equinox—the first day of fall. Come celebrate this masterful artist and witness to nature’s nuances in the IMA Galleries before this beautiful exhibition departs. Afterward, continue your journey with our Alma Thomas Campus Tour by picking up a booklet and map in the Forefront Galleries, and head out into The Garden and Fairbanks Park to look for the signs of fall. Observe the shifting season as Alma Thomas would.