Throwing some light on the subject had only made the mystery deeper.

One of the main takeaways was that you have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light.

Absolutely have to have dark in order to have light. [...] Gotta have opposites – dark and light, light and dark – continually in a painting. If you have light on light, you have nothing. If you have dark on dark, you basically have nothing. [...] You know, it's like in life: you've gotta have a little sadness once in a while, so you know when the good times come. I'm waiting on the good times now.

A light here required a shadow there.

No matter how hard you fight the darkness, every light casts a shadow, and the closer you get to the light, the darker that shadow becomes.

You have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light

Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.

Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light,” I

Better to illuminate than merely to shine to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.

An object will display the greatest difference of light and shade when it is seen in the strongest light. . . . But this should not be much used in painting, because the works would be crude and ungraceful. An object seen in a moderate light displays little difference in its light and shade, and this is the case towards evening or when the day is cloudy; works painted then are tender, and every kind of face becomes graceful. Thus, in everything extremes are to be avoided: Too much light gives crudeness; too little prevents our seeing.

A luminous body will appear more brilliant in proportion as it is surrounded by deeper shadow.

In a dark time, the eye begins to see / I meet my shadow in the deepening shade...Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.

Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.

A dark object seen against a bright background will appear smaller than it is. A light object will look larger when it is seen against a background darker than itself.