There are two kinds of obscurity - the obscurity of Art and the obscurity of Nature. They may be called the obscurity of mist and the obscurity of mystery. They have nothing in common. They are as opposed as the poles.

A thing may be hidden by Art in two ways. It may be overlaid with irrelevancies, or its expression may be restrained to the point of poverty. The effect is the same. The essentials are hidden. In Nature also (but by Nature we mean not so much apparent Nature as real Nature) there are two ways by which things may be hidden. They may become so common as not to be regarded, or they may be so uncommon as not to permit regard. They may be as universal as light or as unique as the sun. Observation involves comparison, and that which is entirely universal or absolutely unique - or both - cannot be compared with anything.

An artist is one who has the power of unveiling Nature, only to substitue the veils of Art. Indeed it is by imposing the veils of Art that he is enabled to show the real qualitites and relations of things. For the veils of Art need not be obscure. The vision of the artist is of such a kind that it penetrates these veils and thus can view the realities underlying them that otherwise could not be confronted. It is through his Art that the artist sees.