What I Loved

by Siri Hustvedt

“That’s the problem with seeing things. Nothing is clear. Feelings, ideas shape what’s in front of you. Cézanne wanted the naked world, but the world is never naked.

A party whose views had seemed absurd and contemptible suddenly and inexplicably took hold of the country.

Bill called attention to the space between the viewer and the painting where the real action of all painting takes place—a picture becomes itself in the moment of being seen.

The man was heavy with life.

The objects become muses of memory. Every story we tell about ourselves can only be told in the past tense.