“L’œuvre de l’esprit n’existe qu’en acte”—thus Valéry begins one of the most lucid passages I have ever had the opportunity to read about art. Art is the act of artistic creation, which survives as the record of a momentary illumination, a response of the spirit to specific circumstances. Taken out of context, it is innocuous. It can only be assimilated if analyzed as a whole and is destroyed when its elements are dissected. A beautiful lesson for the “experts”…