
Item Condition: Used; Good
No dust cover. 1934 edition.
ENJOYING PICTURES
Meditation
In the National Gallery
WANT to discover just what are the ingredients of my
happiness in a picture-gallery. That was what I was
thinking about as I left the National Gallery this morn-
ing and that was in my mind as I walked home from lunch
in Chelsea: and between Chelsea and Bloomsbury there is
room fora world of thought. It is not a simple investiga-
tion, and to pursue it by methods that come easiest to me
is imposible. That is why I have given this essay a title
which bespeaks the reader's indulgence: I call it a medita-
tion. That neat a priori method which displays to such
advantage a turn for simple thinking and clear writing will
never do what I want to do now. Pray do not jump to the
conclusion that I am going to be profound or slovenly;I
hope I am as unlikely to be the one as I am certainly in-
capable of being the other. What I have to do is to follow
the vagaries of my mind through a tangled experience-an
hour in the National Gallery. I have to catch my reactions
alive and pen them in phrases. Instead of making a neat
hutch for tamed rabbits, my favourite occupation and my…