In terms of art, paintings used to be like windows into a world. Then, with modernists, paintings became less about make a picture (something the new technology

In terms of art, paintings used to be like windows into a world. Then, with modernists, paintings became less about make a picture (something the new technology of photography could do better anyway), and more about the object itself — paint on a canvas, hung on a wall. When art critics were talking about the “flatness” of a painting, that’s what they meant. The “flatter” the painting, the truer it was to itself — just a canvas covered in paint. Eventually becoming so flat that you’ve got a white canvas in a white gallery. Sculpture followed a similar trajectory. In terms of Marie Kondo and decluttering, or Zen — I’d say there’s a difference between minimal and essential. One is an aesthetic exercise, the other is a goal of finding that point where it’s “just right”, no more, no less.