The Nature of Emotions

I look at this painting, "From the Lake", by Georgia O'Keeffe, and I hear music, imagining running rapids on a Colorado river, flying through turbulence, or watching clouds gathering and breaking over mountains. 

"From the Lake", Georgia O'Keeffe

The transcendent drama and energy of the forms, her choices of color, shading, and volume, create a roiling experience of flow and force, a crashing of waves and light. 

"Dancing Willows", by Arthur Dove, creates a similar energy in a much more planar manner. By overlapping each shape over the one behind it, he implies a multiplication of movement: 

"Dancing Willows", Arthur Dove

As one willow moves, the others move in concert, controlled by unseen winds whooshing from the right side of the canvas. 

The color palettes in both of these paintings are inspired by nature, but in each case the artist has pushed the saturation in order to heighten the emotional resonance, taking it out of the ordinary and bringing it into closer focus.