Arthur Dove based his abstract paintings in observations of the natural world. In Two Forms, he used a limited color palette to convey the presence and absence of light. The edges of central shapes glow with lighter colors, emphasizing the powerful energies within nature. Dove’s partner Helen Torr described this image in a journal the two shared: “A radiant central shape with two roof-like projections at its peak partially obscures a dark, elliptical mass resembling a sun in eclipse.”