A painting provides access to most of the potential of the medium by way of its ability to deliver an open experience. Rather than simply presenting a more or less difficult puzzle to be worked out and ‘understood’ by the mind, which is often the aim of straight representational or conceptual art, the ability of a work to engage the viewer over a lifetime only occurs when the interaction operates on the level of emotions and feelings instead. Like a good love story, the ‘experience’ or relationship with the artwork is constituted initially by infatuation, then by acceptance, followed by devotion, which keeps the viewer returning for a lifetime – not just until he or she ‘gets it’ for the short-term.