Foul Wind

In this painting, a blue sailboat faces the blazing swell of a raging sea. Scarlet reds, golds, and violet bursts compose an incandescent ocean, a “heavy weather” where everything wavers. The sail, taut like a cry, nevertheless persists in rising, a fine blade of azure in the midst of whirlwinds. The boat seems swept away, and yet it resists, finding in the very violence of the wave a vital thrust. The eye is drawn into the central vortex, both abyss and light, recalling the ambivalence of every trial. The sea here is not enemy, but mirror: it reveals our own capacity to cross. Is it not in turmoil that the soul discovers the measure of its strength?