“Something can surprise us because it excites wonder, or because it is new or unexpected,” he wrote—it exists outside the realm of what we already know we like. “Our soul often experiences pleasure when it feels something it cannot analyze, or when an object appears quite different from what it knows it to be.” Understanding this feeling of surprise can take time. Taste is not necessarily instantaneous and changes as you consider and digest the experience of an artwork: “We become aware of the presence of great beauty when something inspires us with a surprise which at first is only mild, but
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