nolde's sea.

In Emil Nolde's "The sea" the sky looks almost dirty, with its yellow tint, as though it has a muddy brown underside.

But here in this muddy brown-black is the shock of purple and blue. It's these shades of brown, this dirty underbelly, that give the painting its power. Only such a backdrop could cause the sea and the clouds to have such luster. The coloring reveals that beauty here is a miracle -- the dirty lens suggests that it might have been ugly. It might have been nothing as all.

We need new eyes that find such beauty in muddy waters.