Permanent Red: Essays in Seeing

by John Berger

Why should an artist’s way of looking at the world have any meaning for us? Any artwork reflects the artist’s intentions, but also its therefore all art is political

In Permanent Red, John Berger argues that the contemporary artist should strive for a realism that aims for hope, to transform the world. Surveying the work of historical artists as well as that of near contemporaries such as Picasso, Léger and Matisse, he explores the role of the artist, dividing these figures into those that struggle, those that fail, and the true masters. He explains why we should study the work of the in order to understand the present and to rethink the future.

First published in 1960, Permanent Red established John Berger as a firebrand critic willing to broadcast controversial opinions on some of the most important British artists of the day, including Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

Genres: Art, Essays, Nonfiction, Politics, Criticism

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 25, 2025

About the author

John Peter Berger was an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a college text.

Later he was self exiled to continental Europe, living between the french Alps in summer and the suburbs of Paris in winter. Since then, his production has increased considerably, including a variety of genres, from novel to social essay, or poetry. One of the most common themes that appears on his books is the dialectics established between modernity and memory and loss,

Another of his most remarkable works has been the trilogy titled Into Their Labours, that includes the books Pig Earth (1979), Once In Europa (1983) Lilac And Flag (1990). With those books, Berger makes a meditation about the way of the peasant, that changes one poverty for another in the city. This theme is also observed in his novel King, but there his focus is more in the rural diaspora and the bitter side of the urban way of life.

Reviews

[Eva Rajher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needed a long long time to finish this as it took a lot of googling for the many many art references.
The essays on art I found a lot more inspiring than the ones on the artists, and some of his views are outdated and of course subjective. Didn’t agree with everything he had to say but really agreed on some and overall very beautifully written and many underlined passages.

“only if we recognize the mortality of art, shall we cease to stand in such superstitious awe of it - only then shall we consider art expandable and so have the courage to risk using it for our own immediate, urgent, only important purposes.”
“in life it would be better if paintings were for looking at.” (opposed to commercialization)

[marcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm disappointed by this collection. The essays at the beginning are insightful, but I fail to glean anything of value from those vignettes. I don't mind reading criticism about artists I'm unfamiliar with, but vignettes aren't the right format for that. You may enjoy this if you're more brushed up on art history that I am.

Favorites:
"Introduction"
"Drawing"
"The Difficulty of Being an Artist"

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘—the picture was painted by Carl Fabricius. Fabricius, a student of Rembrandt, was killed in an explosion when he was thirty-two years old. Consequently his works are very rare and very valuable. A newly discovered portrait would be worth about £20,000. But of course in life one can never know the whole story. In life it would be better if paintings were for looking at.’

Not my favourite Berger. But brilliant nonetheless. Rating this very much on how I 'feel' and/or how much I 'enjoyed' reading it rather than the quality of the text .

[Darragh Mulryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes hard to follow unless you have a deep knowledge of the works of the artists he discusses (which I don’t), but interesting nonetheless to hear an expert’s opinions on many topics within the art world. I particular liked the essay on drawing. I take every critic’s writings with a pinch of salt because at the end of the day it’s all subjective, but Berger undoubtably has authority in this realm and is worth listening to.

[Maisie Ryle · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most poetic haters of our time

[Jack Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to return my "Selected Essays of John Berger" to the library because someone else wants it. Good! More people should read John Berger! He finds a way to overturn so many of your deeply held ideas about art and society, mainly by insisting that, uh, people matter, and that you shouldn't let institutions or governments or museums or anyone else tell you how to feel. His critical project is unmistakably political: "Permanent Red" (I'm reviewing it because much of it is included in "Selected Essays") begins with a preface apologizing for NOT BEING EXTREME ENOUGH. Heck, I'll just quote that apology in full, it's so good...

As I re-read [this book] today I have the impression that I was trapped at that time: trapped in having to express all that I felt or thought in art-critical terms. Perhaps an unconscious sense of being trapped helps to explain the puritanism of some of my judgments. In some respects I would be more tolerant today: but on the central issue I would be even more intransigent. I now believe that there is an absolute incompatibility between art and private property, or between art and state property-- unless the state is a plebeian democracy. Property must be destroyed before imagination can develop any further. Thus today I would find the function of regular current art criticism-- a function which, whatever the critic's opinions, serves to uphold the art market-- impossible to accept. And thus today I am more tolerant of those artists who are reduced to being largely destructive.

Berger was saying this stuff-- putting in a good word for collective action and democracy, even (especially?) if it's destructive-- years before the counterculture, before the punks, before the great freedom movements. He was wayyy ahead of his time (though he'd probably despise me for saying that) and is, in many ways, still ahead of ours. Here are some of the essays from "Selected" (again, didn't read them all (yet), cuz library problems) that made a particularly deep impression on me:

"Jackson Pollock": in which Berger really takes the whole "cult of genius" thing to the mat
"Ossip Zadkine": like the statue it discusses, a really moving tribute to the victims of war atrocities
"The Moment of Cubism": before I read this essay, I thought Cubism is just about painting everything with little boxes. Berger shows how it was a movement before a style, and how the movement was all about social and artistic (entwined!) possibilities
"Image of Imperialism": the famous one about the photo of Che Guevara's corpse. Again, strangely galvanizing
"The Nature of Mass Demonstrations": seriously if every media outlet had printed this last summer instead of whatever other bullshit they were saying about freedom movements... Berger argues that the Mass demonstration is not, in itself, democracy, but almost like, necessary democracy cosplay
"The Booker Prize Speech": Berger uses the platform to talk about how the prize is only worthwhile to the extent that it funds interesting social projects, and then describes briefly how he's gonna use the Booker's money to basically undermine the vision that Booker himself stood for
"Francis Bacon and Walt Disney": can't decide who he's harder on, here
"Why Look at Animals?": amazing critique of, err, zoos
"A Load of Shit": definitely lives up to the title

[aimee ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i actually finished reading this a few days but it still hasn't really clicked with me that im finally done with it because i've been reading it for such a long time!! im glad i took my time with it though; i haven't read many marxist analyses of the fine arts before and i was very excited and eager to read more the whole time because it's such a wonderful combination of two things that i love!!
i highly recommend it, or if you aren't at all familiar with john berger i would really recommend watching the youtube re-uploads of the BBC "ways of seeing" series he did, it's great!!
had a few small issues with some of his discussion on the relationship between art, the artist and morality but it nevertheless gave me much to think about... also particularly happy to have discovered kokoscha's paintings through reading this book <3

[Rena Rodrigues · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berger is a genius but even a genius can’t escape his own biases and the environment where he learned his craft, so the book was ALMOST perfect in my eyes, except for his undying devotion to Picasso and saying statements like Picasso taught non-westerns to appreciate their own art.
Too many passages stuck with me but one of my favourite chapters is the one about Romanticism because so much of it applies to how us progressives see ourselves today: “its political gesture was important and also undoubtedly sincere. But it remains a gesture.” and “it was a sincere view, but it was a compromisingly privileged view. And between the privilege and the reality lay the predicament.”
I love it and I can’t wait to go to see some of the artworks mentioned here

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was definitely and interesting read and I feel like I learnt a lot. Cause this was mostly about artists from like 60+ years ago I had to search a lot of them up as I was reading which good cause it helped to make it more meaningful but it was also annoying to be having to interrupt reading time with phone so constantly (every few pages).

[Iris Shu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didnt completely finish. Some essays hit harder than others but I’d probably appreciate it more if I knew literally anything about art history

[Patrick Coyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool to read John Berger as a young angsty and critical author

[Sidney Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

yasssss socialist art criticism slayyyy

[Sotiris Sotiriou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some part of weren’t that great but overall very eyes opening read.

[Kerly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ei meenu, nagu oleks andnud mingeid uusi tööriistu või nägemise viise. Meenutas Barthese Camera Obscura ja Pandora Laeka tekstide segu. Vb peaks uuesti lugema.

[Frightful_elk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of wonderful thoughts and new ways of thinking about art. Produces many sparks of inspiration and excitement in the reader.