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Art history looks at art works and the people who have created them.

The more I've gotten interested in writing about history and making sense of myself within the continuum of history, the more I've turned to paintings, to art. I look to the imagery of art to help me understand something about my own place in the world.

Art needs to be socialised, and you need a lot of context to understand that, and that doesn't mean having read a few art history books.

History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images.

Because I'm an art historian, I have some experience of writing that comes out of close attention. That's what really art history is. You're looking at something very closely, and you try to write in a meticulous way about it.

I spend much more time looking at art history and at different references to art than I do at actual objects.

The visual information of art history is going to students seamlessly, without the enormous trouble those of us who are older had when we studied art history many years ago.

I set my sights upon becoming the kind of artist who would make a contribution to art history.

I learned more from my mother than from all the art historians and curators who have informed me about technical aspects of art history and art appreciation over the years.