Meaning was no longer “given” in a painting, but the viewer had to figure out what the splashes of color might mean: “In all this type of art the onlooker is asked to be active. He has to “go into the picture,” and in a kind of irrational, completely free action get his own meaning out of it.”157 Analogous to “reader-response” approaches to studies of literary texts, such art enthrones the autonomous self over against external authorities (such as traditional narratives).
