The pleasure of living 

Nigel Van Wieck’s painting presents us with a scene of leisure, dominated by the cool, expansive tones of the sky, sail, and sea. The composition is strikingly divided: the upper two-thirds are claimed by the abstract shapes of the sail against the sky, while the lower portion depicts three figures lounging on what appears to be a boat. This division isn't just visual, it plays with our perception. The large geometric forms of the sail create a sense of depth, and the figures below are anchored in a more traditional pictorial space. The sail itself, rendered in broad strokes of white and pale blue, almost verges on abstraction. This juxtaposition challenges fixed meanings. Ultimately, the pleasure in 'The Pleasure of Living' arises not just from the depicted scene, but from the formal tensions within the painting itself: the interplay between abstraction and figuration. The way the abstract elements function suggests how we, as viewers, construct meaning through visual cues and cultural codes.