Georges Didi-Huberman critiques conventional approaches to the study of art history. Didi-Huberman considers that the history of art is based on the primacy of knowledge, particularly in the vein of Kant, or what he calls a “spontaneous philosophy”. While art historians claim to examine images across time, what they actually do could be described as a sort of forensic process, in which they analyze, decode, and deconstruct works of art to try to better understand the artist and his objective. or an expression. This article will examine Didi-Huberman's main claims in her book Confronting Images and apply her methodology to a still life by Juan Sánchez Cotán. In Confronting Images, Didi-Huberman considers the drawbacks he sees in the academic approach to art history and proposes an alternative method for engaging art. His approach focuses on what is “visual” well before arriving at conclusive knowledge. Drawing on the field of psychoanalysis (Lacan, Freud, Kant, and Panofsky), Didi-Huberman argues that viewers connect to art through what he might describe as an example of receptivity, as opposed to an linear, step-by-step approach. analytical process. He emphasizes the perceptual mode of engagement with the imagery of a painting or other work of art, which he believes precedes any “knowledge,” thought, or rational discernment. In other words, Didi-Huberman believes that the mind “sees” long before realizing and processing the object viewed, and even less before understanding it. Long before the observer can gain useful information by scrutinizing and decoding what he sees, he becomes absorbed in the work of art in an irrational and unpredictable way. What Didi-Huberman is...... middle of paper...... over time – and the viewer's personal experience, essentially their story. This comes very close to a common sense perspective: what we look at and what we think about what we see has a lot to do with who we are and what we have experienced in life. Thus, art can be described as an interaction between the viewer, influenced by their experiences, with the work of art, including its history and the narratives built around it over time. When we look at art, we must recognize that the image is temporally stretched – it contains much more than what is currently seen. What we learn from Didi-Huberman’s approach is to give this temporal “tension” its due. Didi-Huberman describes and defends the importance of how we look at artistic works: images that represent something specific, while always remaining open to the presentation of something new and different..