Gathering at the Night Light crams a number of objects into a nocturnal still life: a lamp, an ornate clock, and several figurines. Yet the intensely focused light against the backdrop of the darkened window gives the objects a magical quality.  We keep looking for an indication that they are not, in fact, just objects.  Another nocturne, Reflections in a Shipyard, also asks us to ponder just what about the image gives us a feeling of apocalyptic foreboding.  The answer seems to lie in the indistinct nature of both the background landscape and of the reflection in the propeller blades. Our uncertainty about the image carries into an overall sense of discomfort and apprehension.

Sometimes, as stated, the enigma lies in the treatment of perspective.  Looking Up Southbank seems, at first, a conventional landscape of stream and fallen tree.  Yet, the tree recedes in a way which seems to deny the very stability of the ground on the far bank of the stream.  As our vision follows the tree to the top of the painting, we almost feel that we are airborne and flying over the stream.  A contrasting perspective is found in Sunspots, where our view is directly over the stream and fallen tree.  Here the rocks, the ripples, and the ‘sunspots’ form seemingly abstract patterns beneath us, denying to some extent the reality of the scene.