Does a Painter Have to Be Able to Explain Her Own Work?
Last updated: October 6, 2026
In short: No. A serious painter can say a great deal about how a canvas was made and still not know everything it means. In April 2026, painter April Gornik told The Brooklyn Rail that she will not be able to fully explain her recent work, and that much of it she is still wondering about. Collectors and advisers say what to do with that: follow your intuition, ask why you like or dislike a work, and let the reasons arrive later.
What does a working painter say about her own recent work?
Something most marketing would never print. In an April 2026 conversation with Hearne Pardee in The Brooklyn Rail, painter April Gornik says of her recent paintings: "I will not be able to fully explain. I never see everything in the work until later, if at all." A little further on: "Sometimes the work marks a moment of realization or revelation, but a lot of my work I'm still wondering about."
She describes the gap between plan and result in a sentence about her painting The Palm at the End of the Mind: "You thought you knew something about what you were doing—maybe had a hint of purpose as you began the painting—but then you realize you'll never completely know, because it's just what it is."
The American painter Philip Guston put the same uncertainty as a question, in a line quoted by John Yau in Hyperallergic: "I don't know what a painting is; who knows what sets off even the desire to paint?"
Why would not knowing belong to the work and not mark a gap in it?
Because the making and the understanding arrive in different orders. In a letter to his brothers in December 1817, John Keats gave the condition a name: "Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason."
Jackson Pollock described the same sequence in his 1947 statement "My Painting": "When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about."
And Georgia O'Keeffe made the unknown the point of the work: "Making your unknown known is the important thing."
Four painters and a poet, one order of events: the painting is made, the looking follows, and the explanation comes late, if it comes.
What do collectors and advisers say to do when a painting won't explain itself?
Start with your response, and let the reasons catch up. In CULTURED's collected advice from collectors and advisers (2 January 2025), collector Craig Robins says: "Follow your intuition, but don't rush." Adviser Rob Teeters adds a method for the moment you dislike something as well as the moment you love it: "Understand what you don't like and try to understand why."
Gallerist and adviser Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn raises the stakes of the wall itself: "The art on our walls describes who we aspire to be—please do not let it be neutral." Collector Camille Okhio starts earlier than the painting: "Get right with yourself before you do anything else." And collector Carol Schuster reduces the decision to three questions: "Do I love it? Can I live with it? Can I afford it?"
None of the five opens with "What does it mean?" That question can wait for the third winter.
What does that sound like from this studio?
I paint the way these painters describe. I start from a color story and work on instinct, and I never plan what occurs. My own artist statement says it directly: "Not knowing is the primary draw to what I do." A canvas that arrives without a complete explanation is one you can keep looking at, because the looking is not finished when the label ends.
If you want to take your time with a painting before you commit, the studio sends several videos of each finished work before it ships, so you can watch the surface in different light for as long as it takes you to know how you feel.
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Frequently asked questions
Do artists really not know what their paintings mean?
Some say so on record. April Gornik told The Brooklyn Rail in April 2026 that she will not be able to fully explain her recent work and that a lot of it she is still wondering about. Painters such as Pollock and Guston described a similar order of events: the making comes first, the understanding arrives later.
How do I understand an abstract painting I don't get?
Begin with your response rather than a caption: what the color does, where your eye travels, how the painting feels after a few minutes. Adviser Rob Teeters suggests trying to understand what you don't like and why, and collector Craig Robins advises following your intuition without rushing.
Is it okay to buy abstract art without knowing what it means?
Advisers quoted here say yes, with care: follow your intuition, don't rush, and ask whether you love it and can live with it. A painting you keep looking at tends to teach you what it means over time.
Can I look at a painting for a while before I buy it?
Yes. This studio sends several videos of each finished painting before it ships, and you can write to the painter with questions about any work.
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Sources
- an April 2026 conversation with Hearne Pardee in The Brooklyn Rail → https://brooklynrail.org/2026/04/art/april-gornik-with-hearne-pardee/
- CULTURED's collected advice from collectors and advisers → https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2025/01/02/expert-art-collector-best-advice/