ABSTRACT
The liberal consensus view is basically reform-minded, relying on visions of democratization, democratic institutions and democratic change to which art, including pictures and images, may make transformative contributions. To be sure, the picture always remains the same, but the image the readers have of the picture is always different and explains why critics, just as in the case of literature, can rarely agree on the interpretation of a picture and can never exhaust its full meaning. The image of the dancing woman is included in a section in which the readers find pictures of various lively social occasions, including several different versions of dancing, ranging from boogie-woogie to ballroom dancing and folk dancing. Finally, an aesthetic of the poetic moment – and this leads us to a third strong source of the exhibition’s appeal – transforms (moments of) everyday life into something special.
