As such, it lends itself to the glorification of physical objects, conflating the tangible with the real and, by extension, glorifying possession. Oil painting is unique in its capacity to render the tangible details of an object, suggesting a greater degree of dimension, texture, and solidity than other mediums. Moreover, Berger argues that this worldview, with its new attitudes towards property and exchange, was expressed by oil painting better than it could have been by any other medium: oil painting 'reduced everything to the equality of objects' by privileging a certain kind of pictorial realism that created the impression of materiality. This logic is related to the elaboration of capitalism in Europe around the time that the oil painting tradition came into fashion: the implicit possibility of owning objects depicted in oil painting upholds the ruling classes' desire to entrench the emerging power of capital. The contents that these paintings depict, then, exist as images of that which the collector may possess. In the logic of this picture-which represents the logic of oil painting in whole-paintings are, before all else, objects to be owned.

This tradition set the norms that continue to define pictorial representation, privileging a certain sort of formal verisimilitude that continues to inform our understanding of 'artistic genius.'īerger begins the chapter by posing the question: 'What is a love of art?' Within this tradition of oil painting, 'love of art' comes to stand in for 'desire to possess.' This is illustrated with a painting of an art collector, depicted amongst his vast collection of paintings. Although the literal act of oil painting has existed for centuries-pigments have been mixed with oil to create paint since the ancient world-the tradition that Berger refers to here is characterized by its emergence at around the time that capitalism began to take hold in Europe. In this tradition, the emphasis is often on objects that are buyable, suggesting a relationship between oil painting and the desire to possess. Chapter 5 focuses on a specific tradition of oil painting, which reached its fullest embodiment roughly between 15.

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