For me nature is not landscape, but the dynamism of visual

Hear the voice of Bridget Riley, the painter who taught the eye to tremble, who proclaimed: “For me nature is not landscape, but the dynamism of visual forces.” These words, spoken from the heart of an artist, do not reject the beauty of fields, mountains, or skies, but reach deeper into the hidden currents that flow beneath all appearance. For Riley saw not only the tree or the river, but the forces that set them in motion—the vibration of light, the rhythm of color, the tension of form. To her, nature was not a static picture, but a living field of energies, restless, eternal, ceaseless in their play.

The ancients, too, spoke of such forces. Heraclitus declared that all things flow, that nothing stands still. The wise of old knew that beneath the calm surface of the world rages an unseen dance of opposites—fire and water, light and shadow, attraction and repulsion. Riley, like them, perceived that to capture nature is not to copy its surface, but to reveal its dynamism. Her paintings, with their shimmering lines and pulsing colors, are not landscapes, but mirrors of the forces that shape all life.

Think of the sea. To the casual eye, it is but a flat expanse of blue. But the sailor knows it as a theater of powers—currents beneath, winds above, tides that rise and fall. So too Riley looked at the visual world. The casual eye sees a meadow; she saw contrasts of hue pulling against one another, light pressing forward, darkness receding. Her genius was not to imitate the meadow, but to awaken in the viewer the sensation of its hidden power. Thus her art reminds us that nature is never still—it is always force, always movement, always change.

History shows us that those who uncover hidden forces change the destiny of mankind. Isaac Newton, gazing at the fall of an apple, did not stop at its descent, but discerned the invisible power of gravity binding the heavens and the earth. James Clerk Maxwell, studying the play of electricity and magnetism, revealed that light itself is a wave of force. Likewise, Riley, in her art, declared that vision itself is not passive but active, that the eye dances with the world, that to see is to be caught in a web of energy. Each of these, in their own realm, showed that beneath the surface of appearance lies the dynamism of forces.

The lesson is profound: do not be deceived by appearances. Do not think of nature as fixed, static, or frozen in beauty. See instead the tensions, the rhythms, the unseen streams that give rise to what is visible. The same is true not only in art or science, but in life. The harmony of a family, the unity of a people, the peace of a soul—these are not statues carved in stone, but living balances of forces, always in motion, always needing care and adjustment. To see this is to live wisely, to understand that all things require balance, vigilance, and respect for the hidden currents.

What then must you do? Open your eyes to forces, not only to forms. When you gaze upon a forest, feel the pull of light through the branches, the press of shadow beneath the leaves. When you behold another person, sense not only their outward figure, but the tension of their emotions, the radiance of their spirit, the gravity of their sorrow or joy. When you face your own life, do not cling to a fixed image of who you are, but attend to the currents within you—anger and love, fear and courage, despair and hope. Learn to balance them as Riley balanced her colors, to create harmony not by denial but by recognition of their dynamism.

Therefore, O seekers, remember Bridget Riley’s wisdom: nature is not merely a landscape to be admired from afar. It is the ceaseless dynamism of visual forces, and we ourselves are part of that motion. To see rightly is not only to look, but to feel the forces at play. To live rightly is not only to exist, but to balance the energies within and without. For in every flicker of light, every trembling line, every beating heart, there is the same eternal truth: all is motion, all is force, all is life unfolding.