EPPH - Every Painter Paints Himself

Why painters paint themselves

I spend so much time demonstrating that conventional perception of art is mistaken that I seldom explain why every painter paints himself is such a profound idea. It is, in essence, the basis of consciousness. Every time we recount a childhood story, for instance, we inevitably mix fact with fiction and, in so doing, "paint" our own reality. But it’s not just our life-stories we paint but everything, from the image of our boss to the image of our basement. We each "paint" everything we experience. In fact, "painting" is the experience.

Here's how. Our senses take in meaningless lightwaves, soundwaves etc which our brains convert into something meaningful. The problem is our perceptual systems can only translate them through what we already know. We know what tomato soup looks, smells and tastes like so we all recognize it. Anything new, though, requires imagination. If we have neither experience nor knowledge of it and cannot imagine it either, we will not see it.  That's why art historians, generally speaking, are blind when they look at art. They haven't been able to imagine that every painter paints himself so they see what viewers have always seen: painted photographs. 

One of my favorite explanations for how what we experience is created inside our heads and not in the real world is the sound of a tree falling in the forest. If someone is standing nearby and the tree falls, the person will hear it. The change in air pressure caused by the tree falling will create a sound in their head. But, if no-one is there to hear it, the tree will fall silently because sound like images are created inside our heads. The only thing in the forest that day will be a change in air pressure.

We all “paint” what we see. It’s just really difficult to accept that we do which is why, given its importance to understanding ultimate truth, artists and scientists both try to explain it.  Einstein said: “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” Raphael, Rembrandt and Manet would have said the same. Indeed they did, if you know how to look.