Winter paintings can convey a sense of stillness and peace in the observer, or can induce an unsettling feeling where bleakness of existence seems reflected in a desolate, winter landscape. (widewalls.ch)
On one hand, it shares a certain bleakness with its predecessor, its violence and drama presented with the same impassive eye. (birthmoviesdeath.com)
I've always been a sucker for bleakness and despair, and he seems to find them around every corner in his fabled hometown — echoes of lost grandeur reduced to trinkets in tourist stalls. (bookpage.com)