“How come art exists at all? And why do artists do this and not something else? There must be more to it than prettiness or hoped-for esteem. As he’d once suggested to Germaine, maybe so many academics, drawing instructors, art dealers, and critics corrupted what the ancients naturally understood. Perhaps “primitive” artists comprehended far more than today’s tastemakers can imagine—that there’s something in humans’ will to create the universe depends”