In the history of modern Chinese painting, among all the artists, who seek innovation of Chinese traditional painting and meanwhile catch the spirit of western modernist paintings, Lin Fengmian is considered as a master. Lin is a pioneer in the path of art innovation and integration in his generation, he deems to fuse Chinese and Western art to emerge a new artistic form: "Western art cares more about the objectivity in the constitution of forms, which often leads to the case of too much emphasis on forms but lack of communication of emotion; hence the art becomes mechanical, paintings become prints… In comparison, oriental art cares more about the subjectivity in the constitution of forms, which often leads to the case of the emotional power cannot be delivered through the weak form; therefore art falls to a pastime of meaningless brushstrokes, it no longer has the social attribute it deserves " as in modern China". As the matter of fact, what western art is short of is exactly what oriental art is good at, while the shortage of oriental art is the very advantage of western art. The two artistic forms can perfectly be the complement for each other. The rising of a new art of our world is happening now - all depends on how we approach it." Throughout Lin's artistic career, he insisted on a simple means of artistic expression; his pithy brushstrokes bear profound connotations, while a sense of oriental poetry is flowing everywhere in his works completed in western painting style.

The piece "The Forest in Autumn" uses the typical squared composition which appears very often in Lin's works, the color of this painting is rich and deep while the brushstrokes are sophisticated and forthright. In the foreground, tall trees on the hills are delineated with black ink, while the houses with white walls in the forest and the village down the hill form a delightful contrast. In the distant view, the mountains are outlined in black meanwhile ochre and cyan smudge gradually; ink and color are vibrant in the square of paper, which clearly brings out the spaciousness of the picture.