Born in St Louis, Missouri, Berninghaus grew up with a love of art. He studied at the Saint Louis School of Fine Art, and first visited New Mexico in 1899 as a guest of the Denver and Rio Grande Rail Road. Fascinated by what he had heard of Taos, he made a detour of twenty-five miles by wagon to visit the as yet untouched village. He fell in love with the area and began spending every summer there until 1925 when he relocated to Taos permanently. A founding member of the Taos Society of Artists, he was to become a leading painter of the American southwest. Berninghaus took the work of being an artist seriously: rising early he would put on a suit and tie, and go to work at his easel. A plein air painter, he delighted in painting the changing light and landscape. He painted similar scenes at different times of day and at different seasons becoming a master at capturing the nuances of the region.

The present work, a composition of varied yellows, ochres and tender greens animated by bright areas of dappled sunshine, depicts a scene from Berninghaus' beloved Taos countryside. Aspen Forest Early Autumn depicts a quiet, sunlit grove and the interplay of light and shadow on the forest floor. As Gordon E. Sanders writes, "Perhaps the most appealing aspect of a Berninghaus painting is the portrayal of truth. He saw the great landscapes as a statement of unlimited freedom- a statement of nature, and he painted them that way - simply and freely." (Oscar E. Berninghaus, Taos, New Mexico, Taos, New Mexico, 1985, p. 122)

Berninghaus was an associate member of the National Academy of Design, the St. Louis Artists Guild, the Salmagundi Club, and the Society of Western Artists. He exhibited widely during his lifetime and won nearly every prize in American art. His works are in the collections of the City Art Museum, St Louis; the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Oklahoma; The Erie Museum, Erie, Pennsylvania; Fort Worth Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; San Diego Fine Art Gallery; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana.