Phrases:
* Bittersweet beauty: This phrase directly expresses the dual nature of the thing in question.
* Tragic elegance: This emphasizes the beauty but also the sadness and loss.
* Heartbreakingly beautiful: This conveys the emotional impact of the beauty.
* Wistful beauty: This evokes a sense of longing and nostalgia.
* Haunting beauty: This suggests a beauty that is both captivating and unsettling.
Words:
* Poignant: evokes a sense of deep sadness and emotion.
* Melancholy: expresses a pensive sadness and a sense of longing.
* Pathetic: can be used to describe something that is both beautiful and movingly sad.
Words in other languages:
* Saudade (Portuguese): A deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Often described as a deep emotional state of love, loss, and yearning.
* Mono no aware (Japanese): A subtle awareness of the transience and impermanence of things, and the beauty to be found in that ephemerality.
* Sehnsucht (German): A profound longing for something that is unknown or unattainable.
Ultimately, the best way to capture the feeling of something beautiful yet tragically sad depends on the specific context and the nuances you want to convey.