Spiritual Wind

A luminous clash of weather and calm plays out across this abstract landscape by British painter Peter Wileman. A single horizon line divides the scene, letting a stormy wash of blues and grays tumble from the sky while warm oranges and gentle pinks settle below. Right at the heart of it all, a jolt of yellow flares up like a spark, drawing your gaze before you have even decided where to look.

The title, "Spiritual Wind," hints at Wileman's real aim. He was less interested in painting a specific stretch of coast and more in capturing a feeling, that hush that comes as a storm approaches and then passes. A former president of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Wileman built his reputation on this kind of work, where scenery melts into pure emotion. His thick, sweeping brushstrokes and dripping paint keep the surface alive, so the colors seem to move even when everything holds still.