1) Throughout the essay Berger discusses the word “history”. He stress the consequence of the history being mystified, in particular relation to art. I think Berger is saying that history stands for the true meaning behind things in this case, art. He says, “History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past.” So, without history there would be no art. There would be no reason for people to create art. Art was created in different time periods in relation to what was occurring in the world at the time. According to Berger history is very important to seeing art. “When we see a landscape, we situate ourselves in it. If we saw the art of the past, we would situate ourselves in history.”(137) It is almost as if art captures the true moment . Based on the use in this essay, I would define “history” as a story and representation of what occurred in the world. Art, is therefore used to describe (rather than words) the capturing of a story.

2) Berger argues that the account of the Hals painting offered by the unnamed art historian is a case of “mystification”. Mystification meaning, “a process of explaining away what might otherwise be evident”(140) I would characterized Berger’s account of that same painting as a deeper thought about why the painting was done the way it was. Berger says Hals was a pauper seeing these people he was painting as an outsider trying to be objective. Berger considers this painting to be a drama. I would say he looks beyond the painting not just what is “really” there. This painting for example, one would have to know the life of Hals to fully understand why and how he painted the painting as he did. Berger says, “The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe,” Berger knows that each work of art has a reason for being done the way it was, and that there is a certain perspective and aspect that the artist wanted to capture. Berger stresses that seeing is not objective. Berger believes that what we see is formed by what one knows, the memories of the thing, and the historical context.