Shimmering concentric circles of silver and blue radiate downward from the deep black center of the sun, dwarfing its tiny reflection in the water below. Although Arthur Dove experimented early on with abstraction, in the 1920s he developed a unique representational style that simplified elements and toyed with scale to capture the fundamental forms and forces of nature. Dove was equally fascinated with the materials of art and here mixed metallic paint with something like wax to thicken its consistency. The textured brushwork emphasizes the sun’s brilliance, making its rays almost tangible.