Ortega published his essay on the dehumanization of art in 1925. I recently read it to see whether it cast any light on a problem of aesthetics that had arisen for me as the result of seeing two exhibitions in quick succession during a recent trip to Madrid. The first, in the Prado, was of the works of the seventeenth-century painter of still lifes Juan Fernández, known as El Labrador; the second, in the nearby Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, was of hiperrealismo, hyperrealism, in which were exhibited canvases of mainly American, but also British and German, artists of the photorealist school.

My problem was the following: Both El Labrador and, by definition, the hyperrealists are realists, but the realism of the former is contemplative and elevating while that of the latter is brash, jarring, superficial, and painful to the eye. The former is refined and exquisite, the latter low, vulgar, and no better than kitsch. My problem was twofold: first, how to put my judgment into words that might persuade someone that the difference in the two realisms really existed; and second, to provide the reasoning, if any, behind that judgment, so that no one could say that it was merely a matter of taste (in the sense of there being no accounting