Flaubert believed that it was impossible to explain one art form in terms of another, and that great paintings required no words of explanation.
Braque thought the ideal state would be reached when we said nothing at all in front of a painting.
But we are very far from reaching that state.
We remain incorrigibly verbal creatures who love to explain things, to form opinions, to argue.
It is a rare picture which stuns, or argues, us into silence.
And if one does, it is only a short time befor.
Jonathan Cape Keeping an eye open: essays on art/julian barnes
