"Even when you are an eyewitness, things get murky very quickly, and critics are among the most unreliable of narrators. An unknown woman at a table writes a letter we can't see, while her maid reacts to something beyond the painted window. We can't see what she's smiling at either."
"Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum in 2023 was tremendous, one of those exhibitions that form the chain in my imagination leading from the past to the present, beginning with the big Goya exhibition at London's Royal Academy in 1963, when I was 10 or 11."
"The list keeps lengthening. Nose-to-nose viewing Fiona Banner's 2010 Turbine Hall commission at Tate Modern in London. I recall several Documentas in Kassel, Manifestas in Sicily and Belgium, Zurich and St Petersburg."
Reflecting on 30 years of writing about art reveals the challenges of interpretation and memory. The experience of viewing art, such as Vermeer's work, evokes personal narratives despite the absence of clear context. Significant exhibitions, from Goya to contemporary installations, shape the critic's imagination and understanding of art. The memories of various art events and installations blend together, illustrating the fluidity of art experiences and the difficulty in conveying their impact accurately.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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