A Lifelong Interest: Conversations on Art and Science Book

A series of probing conversations held by Didier Eribon with Sir Ernst Gombrich, OM, CBE, FBA, seeking to discover how his intellect and tastes had been nurtured during his early years in Vienna, and how they developed after he emigrated to England, wrote "The Story of Art" and became Director of the Warburg Institute. This is essentially the story of a contemplative life - of reading, teaching, pondering and talking to historians, psychologists and philosophers. He brings together the themes that have occupied him for over 60 years: the meaning of paintings; the relation between art and perception; the way in which people's responses are conditioned by conventions, history, social pressures and changes of taste. As undogmatic, sceptical and wide-ranging as ever, Gombrich not only provides a resume of his life's work, but yet again encourages us to think afresh about fundamental issues, posing as many questions as he answers.