In six short essays written in the form of letters and animated conversations with colleagues, Arasse shows us what it is to enter into the complexity of a work of art, visiting all of its dark corners, refuting received wisdom and supposed truths. He proposes adventures in seeing by way of works from Velasquez to Titian, Brueghel to Tintoretto. Eschewing “artspeak” for a more readable, accessible style, Arasse wages war with a recent proliferation of scholarly commentaries that render the works themselves virtually invisible. The repetition of theories, he writes, leads to their acceptance as fact, the result being a banalization of and a sort of erudite indifference to the work itself. This collection of knowledgeable and thought-provoking essays on a traditionally serious and academic subject is rife with humor and wit, and will appeal to art lovers everywhere. Originally published in 2000, Editions Denoel is proud to reissue this classic bestseller in a larger format offering 60 beautiful color reproductions.