Painter of Sight

New at Reason: Who's that guy squinting at the canvas? Why it's landscape wiz J.M.W. Turner! Charles Paul Freund explores the controversy over understanding art through biology.

Comments

[jim]

If one sees only a blur, does one paint what appears (to him) to be a sharp edge? Or does he paint an even blurrier blur? Turner's works are all the more impressive.

[Todd Fletcher]

But if everything appeared to "glow" to him, ordinary paintings would too, with or without his technique, since it would all be seen though the same eyes.

That's not to say that I buy into the Romantic artist thing. The idea of the pure artist pursuing his vision without influence lurks behind much of the BS in the arts, IMO.