“If you listen to the words people say when they look at paintings, it’s mostly things like… ‘Oh, how wonderful!’…or else they are just discussing the details of the picture, ozr trying to find out what the symbols mean, or other technical stuff. But if you can see the picture just for what it is, without restraining yourself, you might be overwhelmed by its beauty, which breaks all the resistance, and tears down all the walls between the object and the observer—even ‘inner walls.’ In that case…the painter and the observer grow into one another. They are united, like Siamese twins.”
I've been reading "Pictures and Tears" which explores the emotional response some viewers can have when interacting with art (and how the 20th Century dialogue about art has become quite clinical and anti-deeply emotive experiences.) This has been one of my favorite passages so far...
