Quotes from Cynthia Freeland

Among the hardest problems an art theory faces are questions about how to settle art's meaning through interpretation

If a viewer responds to Botticelli's Venus with an erotic desire, as if she is a pinup, he is actually not appreciating her for her beauty. And if someone enjoys looking at a Gauguin painting of Tahiti while fantasizing about going on vacation there, then they no longer have an aesthetic relation to its beauty.

This meant that an object like Brillo Boxes was baptized as 'art' if accepted by museum and gallery directors and purchased by art collectors.