A new direction in art criticism is laid out in this striking program for realigning the relationship between painting and criticism. Putting forth the idea that painting evolves and encounters new territory through a constant tension between art and criticism, this treatise draws on the work of philosophers Immanuel Kant and Walter Benjamin as well as critics Arthur Danto and Rosalind Krauss. Each argument is accompanied by a detailed analysis of a wide range of classical, modern, and postmodern art pieces.