John Berger : Once in a Painting

From the extract I understand that a painting itself physically never changes itself, it is how the viewer percieves the painting that may change over time. I think that I painting preserves the feelings of the painter and how they felt at the time rather than the preserves the moment. The moment in which a painting is painted is a considerable amount of time and so it would be difficult to capture that moment, however it is possible that a painting preserves the feeling of the painting throughout the whole process of making the painting. It is this change of feeling towards a painting that lets the painter decide when they believe a painting is finished or not. Although a painting doesn't have a beginning and an end it is easy to see the journey that a painter has been through and the finished painting is a representation of the end of that journey.