When I first come into the studio to work, there is this noisy crowd which follows me there; it includes all of the important painters in history, all of my contemporaries, all the art critics, etc. As I become involved in the work, one by one, they all leave. If I’m lucky, every one of them will disappear. If I’m really lucky, I will too.
Painter Philip Guston, quoted in Dennett (2000) In Darwin’s Wake, where am I? Presidential Address, American Philosophical Association, December 29