John Berger: Once in a Painting

John Berger states in his essay...

"The difference is in what the painting delivers: in how closely the moment of it being looked at, as foreseen by the painter, corresponds to the interests of the actual moments of its being looked at by other people, when the circumstances surrounding its production have changed."

I feel this sums up what I was trying to explain in my previous post, everyone is going to have a different opinion on the painting and people's reaction to art is always going to differ. There isn't one simple answer or response to a piece of art, what one person believes another may totally contradict and disagree with their views.
So of course, someone passing judgement on our pieces, or any piece of art for that matter who doesnt know the intention and stages of production may be at a loss as to what they are seeing. Most people's reaction in this case is "i don't get it", "i don't understand" and usually "oh i don't like it, my 5 year old could do that". It is REALLY annoying as an artist if someone passes such a judgement on your work.
With regards to the piece we have just produced, the still life with Laura, the object appears to be very figurative, and a lot of people interpreted it in this way, although when we went around the class marking each other's work, on Trine's painting the 'figure' looked like a massive rock amongst a landscape, whether she intended this or not, i don't know? Yet she painted exactly what the rest of us had painted; this is an example of what Berger is trying to say in his essay.