Wording the Silent Art collects Barbara Caruso’s essays on the contemporary art scene, including controversial issues like the National Gallery’s purchase of Barnett Newman’s Voice of Fire and the recent transformation of public galleries from institutions of preservation to places of pop entertainment and the effect this has on art. She also writes with elegance and verve on the subject of her own painting, on painting practice, and on how to look at visual art. Her generous and wise advice to a young painter is worth the price of this book alone. Caruso’s is a unitary, clear, communicating voice, and she brings to the reader a marvellous and accessible vision of the essential nature of art in our lives.