Indescribable verbs Preface "Frankly speaking, painters can only speak with pictures." —Vincent van Gogh (Unsent draft of 24 July 1890, found on Van Gogh at the time of his death.)  Art speaks for itself, but text and image are intricately entangled. The texts written about a work of art by artists, patrons, admirers, critics, and outsiders are not insignificant. These texts add meaning and construct myths, but there are also texts that have the power to form ambiguity, resol