Your story of searching for a kind of perfection reminds me of the rivalry between William Turner and John Constable. He painted for years on one picture and used a special red. Both painters exhibited together and Turner analyzed Constable's very elaborate, detailed paintings. He then took a brush and painted a single stroke as a buoy in the sea in his monochrome painting - and "won" :)
Discussion
Wow, what a story. Well, I guess sometimes the only way to know is to see it :))
Would have been a different tale if Turner was wrong!
mfw I look up these paintings on my phone:
..of course a red stroke.