This is an interesting subject. Darkness often gives a sense of melancholia. But smooth curves do not. So I could argue that this image is at odds with itself. But I’ve seen many images where such logic does not apply. Sometimes the object themselves supersede this. If you remember the scene in “Night of the Hunter” where Shelly Winters body is shown in the river with flowing algae around her. Somehow the tragedy is even more enhanced by showing her drowning beautifully. So sometimes contradicting messages work well.
I went through y images looking for a melancholy statement and came up with this one. I don’t know exactly why I find it so but it got to the point where I had to take it off my wall.
https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/mesquite/40650