What the Mind's Eye Sees: Action painters were postwar exemplars of American individualism.

This essay discusses the painting exhibition "Action Painting" at the Beyeler Museum in Basel, Switzerland from January 27-May 12, 2008. What becomes clear is that gestural painting can be interpreted in many various ways and it greatly relies on reflection for meaning to emerge. Art affects the nature of the viewer's response, but the secrets of the psychological and perceptual transfer of emotion and meaning remain to be unlocked. It is this that has become the argument because scientists can seem to find why some colors, textures, shapes, and gestures tend to convey emotions and ideas depending on the personality of the person admiring the art.