Visual perception precedes words. A child sees and recognizes before they can speak. However, visual perception precedes words in another sense. Visual perception determines our position in the world that surrounds us; we interpret this world with words, but words can never negate the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relationship between what we see and what we know is never clearly defined. John Berger's book, by criticizing the traditional Western aesthetics of art, reveals well-hidden ideologies behind the images. The author, emphasizing the way we look at paintings, ultimately changes the way we look at images in general. Fifty years after the book's first release, the questions it raises remain relevant and continue to engage aesthetic theory and art history.