Dissolution is a dual-panel work that explores Viola’s central themes of purification and transformation. Fundamental elements such as water, fire, light, and air are common motifs in his work, and in this piece, water functions as a metaphorical device reflecting the Buddhist concept of śūnyatā (emptiness) and the non-material nature of existence. The blurred images of a man and woman submerged in water suggest a loss of self at the moment of union. This piece, too, is part of Viola’s reinterpretation of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.