The Ignorant Art Historian: The Blind Man’s Meal
Hal Foster | The Paris Review | 12th May 2026
Current art criticism is often consumed by political or identity issues. Another, older approach, such as this piece, takes a more lyrical interpretation of a painting. This discusses a Picasso work. “The man is not only sightless but eyeless; his sockets, which are dark green, are empty. The man is scarcely distinct from the dark gray room. It is as though we cannot see clearly anything that he cannot touch—the room above all. [But] he is not so alone after all; he is with things in a way that the sighted are not.”