I'm counting the days until 14 July. That Wednesday, there will finally be a substantive art program on TV again by none other than journalist, art historian and cultural critic Wieteke van Zeil (1973, The Hague). The six-part TV series Kijken op gevoel highlights a different basic emotion - anger, desire, loneliness, repulsion, despair and joy - every week and sees Wieteke sharing her personal art experience.

Most of us know her from her articles about old masters and modern mores in de Volkskrant, the weekly series 'Eye for Detail' in Volkskrant Magazine and of course her successful books Dichterbij, kunst in details (2015), Goed kijken begint met negeren: de kunst van opmerkzaamheid (2018) and Altijd iets te vinden: de kunst van het oordelen (2020). And now the TV series Kijken op gevoel has been added to that list. In it, Wieteke shows how she looks at art: from her own emotions, which she tries to link in an associative way to what she knows, but also, or perhaps precisely, to what she does not (yet) know. Because looking at art from an open point of view is what she tries to pass on to her viewers and readers. Wieteke: “I try to describe the process of looking. It doesn't help much to hear what you need to see. How cool you must find Rembrandt. You can only see for yourself.' (NRC, June 18, 2021)

What I find special about her approach is that she looks at art from 'the corner of her eye', that is to say with attention to what initially seems to be a remarkable or significant side issue. Such as the puff sleeve, as an expression of expression and control, or the arrow as an invitation or threat. She also considers, for example, why a monkey in the corner of a religious painting wears the Pope's clothes, or why a painting by Raquel van Haver features a plastic garden chair (and how to recognize plastic in paint). She adopted this approach around 2010 when she started taking photos of details in paintings with her first iPhone. She discovered that these images, once isolated from the context of the painting, are not only of art-historical value but also provide insight into the life and mores of the past and provide answers to questions such as how people lived, suffered, loved and enjoyed. From this observation she kept the credo: 'By looking with an open mind and making connections with current events, you discover more and experience more pleasure from art.'

For this collection, Wieteke highlights six works of art on the basis of the six primary emotions that are also central to the TV series Kijken op gevoel. Of course, with an eye for detail.

When you hear a song it can sometimes hit you in such an unfiltered manner that it seems like it was made especially for you. More precisely: for your feeling at that moment. Everyone can listen by feeling, and you can do it without thinking about it, whether it's joy or incomprehensible grief. Things are often slightly different with visual art; there you ask questions first. Since the eighteenth century we have been used to keeping our distance when looking at art. Intellect over feeling. Art has often also literally become a bit further removed from us: in museums. While visual art also links in the most elementary way with our emotions, expresses and evokes emotions, and makes contact with us on a very own level. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best way to approach a work of art.

That is why I prefer to reverse the order: first look by feeling, and then let the questions about artist, style, history, symbolism, iconography, material or context begin. Because that is what makes any work of art potentially current, even if it is thousands of years old, made on the other side of the world. Artists explore all the nuances and variants of the human mind in their work, and with their skill and mastery of materials sometimes manage to touch whole new layers of emotional experience in the viewer – a bit like feeling 'caught' in your secret feelings by a song. Therefore, here are six works of art about the basic emotions of anger, desire, loneliness, repulsion, despair and joy. They are in line with the themes in the 6-part television series Kijken op gevoel, which can be seen from 14 July at 10.05 pm on NTR on NPO2.

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