low looking is deliberately taking time to study a painting, to contemplate it for an extended period and/or frequently. To look at a painting in different ways, from the overall view to small details and sections. To consider the way it was made, who the artist was, when it was painted and possibly why. To consider what's in the painting and what's been left out, the brushwork and composition, the use of the medium, the size. To think about the painting slowly, to look and to look again.
Art critic James Elkins described slow looking as"taking time to let the visual world seep into your thoughts. ... If Rembrandt took a year to make a painting, then it might make sense to take a year to look at it."1
