Perilous Night by Jasper Johns

Perilous Night by Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns, Perilous Night, 1982, encaustic on canvas with objects, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection 1995.79.1

Critics have suggested that many of Johns' paintings are about perception. In Perilous Night, we want to understand the dark image on the left side but cannot do so without referring to the right side. The painting functions like a model of how our brain uses both emotions and analytic intellect to "see." This theory could account for the diptych format and the different types of images on each side, but does the right side really illuminate the left?