Great and Terrible Cities

Abstract

Years ago, when traveling in Holland and Provence, I recall admiring the verisimilitude of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings of these regions. Still later, I began to wonder whether he had truly captured that reality or had simply imposed his vision on me, had in effect induced—or seduced—me into seeing things his way. Powerful views, of necessity, exclude a lot of reality. This makes them partial; and this partiality, especially if coupled with persuasiveness, is understandably irritating, indeed obnoxious, to those who prize the excluded parts. Only in retrospect do we escape the blinders imposed by our insights; but when we manage to do so, we glimpse the price we pay for our Procrustean views.