Nancy Friedland (Can 1971)

Inside you’ll hear a sigh #2 (2022)

Emil Nolde

Brocken Spectre

The pictured phenomenon is the magnified (and apparently enormous) shadow of an observer cast upon clouds opposite the Sun’s direction. The figure’s head is often surrounded by the halo-like rings of colored light forming a glory (optical illusion that looks like the halo above a saint), which appears opposite the Sun’s direction when similar size water droplets in clouds refract and backscatter sunlight.

You often see this phenomenon at The Brocken (highest peak of the Harz mountain range in Germany) which is why its called a Brocken Spectre, but it can be seen by any misty mountainside, cloud bank, or sometimes even while you’re on an airplane.