L'apprentissage de la cécité

In an unfinished article, Proust makes two striking and parallel mistakes in describing Chardin' s The Skate and The Buffet. Both involve mis-recognition : Proust, mesmerised by the disgusting skate or the colourful peaches, cannot see that the animals included in Chardin' s paintings, themselves blinded by other painted objects, are not even looking at the objects of his fascination. Thus Proust unwittingly reveals the aim of Chardin' s work, to show that painting is an art whose aim is to give the viewer something not to see

Art · Art history · Painting · Visual arts · French Literature and Critical Theory · French Literature and Criticism · Historical and Literary Analyses