A Point of View - The Best I Can Do

The Best I Can Do

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Sara Wheeler explains why every week for several decades - despite knowing nothing about art - she has called in to London’s National Gallery to look at the same two paintings.

'This habit of mine,' writes Sara, 'started by accident when I moved to London forty years ago' when she first set eyes on Botticelli's 'Portrait of a Young Man' and van Eyck's 'Portrait of a Man.'

'I have come to realise,' says Sara, the extraordinary power of 'familiarity, close contact and regular attention'.

Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


Published on Friday, 3rd January 2025.

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