![In the Milky Lake/Thinking One, 2011](/sites/default/files/styles/max_1300x1300/public/2020-09/EX8792_9_P-2011-019.jpg?itok=y-oERwK9)
In the Milky Lake/Thinking One, 2011
Acrylic on canvas
Private collection, courtesy of Frahm & Frahm
Nara’s work took a dramatic shift following the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which occurred only forty-three miles north of his studio. Emotionally affected by the aftermath, Nara painted In the Milky Lake/Thinking One, a portrait of a solemn-faced girl with closed eyelids who wears a green dress and is half-submerged in a barely visible pool of water; it was the only major painting he produced in 2011.