We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way (there is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.


An Experiment in Criticism (ed. Cambridge University Press, 2012) - ISBN: 9781107604728

C. S. Lewis Quotes

We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of art makes upon...

We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of art makes upon...

We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of art makes upon...

We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of art makes upon...