The Intimate Philosophy of Art by John Armstrong

'Asking the questions that always swirl through your mind when striding around Tate Modern. De Botton and Armstrong's examination of love is most rewarding.' – Royal Academy of Arts 'A highly optimistic vision.roams widely through subjects as immense as love, nature, money and politics. I hope many people step through it.' – The Times De Botton is throwing open a door and doing what art ought to do: making us think and feel afresh.

Best of all, I took my student son to the Rijksmuseum and, utterly absorbed, he said he would never look at art the same way again. The four teenagers to whom I gave the book have all been thrilled by the sense that art isn’t the preserve of high priests. Moving easily between the intimacies of personal experiences and lucid, accessible philosophical reflection, the author acts as a sensitive and persuasive guide.'One of the most intellectually exciting books I have read this year. In this book, the author describes the resources we each need to cultivate in order to enjoy painting and architecture resources such as reverie, attention and the investment of emotion. There is no access to art except in private - in looking, thinking and feeling in the presence of an individual work.

perhaps this is both the most important and most neglected aspect of thinking about art.

How many of us have stopped before a famous painting or building only to realise, with quiet disappointment, that we can't quite see what the fuss is about? What do we have to do - beyond just staring - to get the most out of art? How do we come to develop an attachment to individual works and find them deeply fascinating? How do they come to matter to us? While many have diligently directed attention to questions in art history, theory or criticism, the author, in a powerful and original shift of focus, considers the roots of our personal engagement with art. How many of us have stopped before a famous painting or building only to realise, with quiet disappointment, that we can't quite see what the fuss is about? What do we have to do - beyond just staring - to get the most out of art? How do we come to develop an attachment to individual works and find them deeply fascinating? How do they come to matter to us? While many have diligently directed attention to questions in art history, theory or criticism, the author, in a powerful and original shift of focus, considers the roots.

The Intimate Philosophy of Art by John Armstrong