Hillsborough, New Hampshire
“As actually existing substances, paintings are individuals—that is to say, beings that cannot be divided into parts without ceasing to be the particular beings they are. When a painter is not pleased with the over-all effect of one of his works, he may cut out of it one or two of the parts he prefers and throw away the rest. If he does so, each part becomes a new individual. As for the primitive painting—that is, the primitive individual—it ceases at once to exist. To say that paintings are individuals is therefore to say that, considered as the very being it is, each of them enjoys the privilege of indivisibility.”—Étienne Gilson, Painting and Reality, 1955