Daniel Arasse – författare

What paintings can teach us—if we can really learn to see themWhat happens when we look at a painting? What do we think about? What do we imagine? How can we explain, even to ourselves, what we see or think we see? And how can art historians interpret with any seriousness what they observe? In six engaging, short narrative "fictions," each richly illustrated in color, Daniel Arasse, one of the most brilliant art historians of our time, cleverly and gracefully guides readers through a variety of adventures in seeing, from Velázquez to Titian, Bruegel to Tintoretto.By demonstrating that we don''t really see what these paintings are trying to show us, Arasse makes it clear that we need to take a closer look. In chapters that each have a different form, including a letter, an interview, and an animated conversation with a colleague, the book explores how these pictures teach us about ways of seeing across the centuries. In the process, Arasse freshly lays bare the dazzling power of painting. Fast-paced and full of humor as well as insight, this is a book for anyone who cares about really looking at, seeing, and understanding paintings.

Au fil des études, il est question du statut et des enjeux théologiques des images, de la réception des œuvres, de leurs effets de sujet et d''objet, de l''organisation du savoir qui sous-tend les productions artistiques ou encore du travtravail interne à la culture picturale.

Cet ouvrage étudie la période qui va de la fin du XIVe siècle jusqu''au milieu du XVIIe siècle, le terme de Renaissance étant envisagé ici dans un sens très large. Ce volume est à la fois un retour aux sources et la démonstration que l''hl’histoire de l’art n’a plus seulement à s’occuper de la « description des phénomènes » mais de « leur fonction et de leur signification ».