Summary of Michel Foucault's The Order of Things

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#1 The painter is standing a little back from his canvas. He is glancing at his model, and perhaps considering whether to add some finishing touch. The arm holding the brush is motionless between canvas and paints. The skilled hand is suspended in mid-air, waiting on the painter’s gaze.

#2 The painting is a representation of the invisible space behind the painting. It is the space in which we are, and which we are. The painter is looking at us, and his face is turned toward one shoulder. The spectators can easily assign an object to the point he is staring at because it is they themselves who are that point.

#3 The painter's gaze is a simple matter of pure reciprocity. We are looking at a picture in which the painter is looking out at us. However, this slender line of reciprocal visibility encompasses a whole complex network of uncertainties, exchanges, and feints.

#4 The painter’s eyes seize hold of the spectator, force him to enter the picture, and assign him a place at once privileged and inescapable. The painter then projects his luminous tribute onto the inaccessible surface of the canvas.

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eBook: 21 maja 2022