Autumn, a 1999 painting by Alex Katz, outdoes autumn in Oakland, just outside the gallery window.

"It always starts out with me asking myself, 'Does the world really need another 40 feet of painting?' " Mr. Katz said, grinning. "And the answer is always no, but then I paint it anyway, just to see what it's going to look like."

Alex Katz in the New York Times 8.12.05