Am interesting quote I came across today while reading about symbolist theory for my modern art history class:

"To love is the only way to penetrate into a thing...to understand a woman, one must love her; understanding is in proportion to love. The only means, thus, to understand a work of art is to become the lover of it. This is possible, as the work is a being that has a soul and manifests this by a language that one can learn" - G. Albert Aurier