Vasily Polenov was a master of historical, landscape and genre painting, and a teacher. In addition to painting and teaching he also made illustrations for books, composed music, made scenery design for theatrical performances, and was fond of architecture and applied art. Among his students were such remarkable colorist painters as Konstantin Korovin and Isaac Levitan, Abram Arkhipov, Alexander Golovin and other artists.

In the autumn of 1887, the artist noticed a picturesque place on the steep bank of the river Oka — it was the village of Byokhovo with a small church and an abandoned manor. Having long dreamt of his own piece of land, Polenov purchased this estate in early 1890.

There the artist painted a landscape with the ancient Russian city of Tarusa, which is located on the other bank of Oka, where the river Tarusa flows into the river Oka. Since late 19th century, Tarusa had been a city of artists: these places attracted them with lyricism and amazing views of nature. Vasily Polenov also often painted Oka and the surrounding area in different seasons of the year, but his favorite season was the golden autumn, its clear and sonorous colors, transparent air, endless clear vastness.

The painting has an elongated format with a high horizon line, the artist depicted a narrow stripe of the river with its gently sloping sandy banks, fields, houses scattered among the trees. The painting style of ‘Tarusa’ is typical for Polenov’s artworks in the period between 1900–1910: a broad manner of painting, no sculpturesque shaping of objects, use of dense and a bit dull colors. The complicated color scheme of the painting is based on a combination of mossy green and golden ochre colors.

The painting is of rather moderate size, but in this picture the artist managed to create a panoramic view of his favorite places, show the light of a clear autumn day and the feeling of spaciousness which can be experienced when looking from the high bank of the river. Throughout all his lifetime, Vasily Polenov was always inspired by those places.