Woman Reading 1970

Will Barnet made this painting, Woman Reading, with a cool palette, a book hovering like a thought bubble. I wonder, was it the act of reading that he wanted to capture, or the interior life it triggers? There is a very specific type of quietness in this painting. The woman's face looks so serene, her cat looks like it is in a perpetual state of bliss. I imagine Barnet wanted to immortalize this scene, but had to confront the fact that as soon as he began to paint, things shifted and changed. The painting then becomes an echo of a time and place. This makes me wonder, does painting operate like a type of memory, where things aren't exactly how they happened, but how we remember them? Perhaps we have a memory of a memory? I always find comfort in thinking that way.