ABSTRACT
In Ways of Seeing, John Berger questioned some of the bourgeois ways in which academics looked at art. Berger's approach changed the way in which the language of visual culture was talked about. He combined cultural and political analysis, aesthetic insights, and sharp modernist eyes in a clear, dynamic, and accessible form. Berger arrived at the key concepts of Ways of Seeing through direct observation of masterworks, combining this with his analysis of contemporary visual culture and critical exploration of works of fine art that have been considered significant. Ways of Seeing was designed to be read in any order, so the reader is not required to approach the essays from the beginning in order to understand Berger's arguments and chain of thought. Ways of Seeing was hugely influential "for its argument that it is too easy, and lazy, to read every work of art and each experience through a single frame of reference".
