To look at a work of art is to think. In encountering a work of art, the first question should not be about how the work can be described in someone else's language or be fitted into a preexisting order, but about how differently the mind works because of the encounter. The viewer should first question himself, not the expert. Sometimes specific historical information about the original content of the work is necessary in order to penetrate beyond the limits of our own perception, but schemes and external situations, fascinating as they are, can never substitute for the direct intercourse between the viewer and the work of art. It is with that relationships these essays are concerned. -- From preface.