The impact of Walter Benjamin’s essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” is a cornerstone of understanding John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. Peter Fuller contends that the pervasive influence of Benjamin on Berger introduces contradictions reflective of Benjamin’s own philosophical tensions. Despite this, Benjamin’s intellectual legacy invigorated Berger’s dedication to critically examining twentieth-century bourgeois culture. This commitment places Berger in a lineage with other influential critics such as Roland Barthes, whose Mythologies similarly dissected cultural myths, and British Marxist thinkers like Raymond Williams and E.P. Thompson, who emerged in the mid-20th century.

Ways of Seeing marks a pivotal moment in Berger’s multifaceted career, which spans roles as an art critic, screenwriter, novelist, and documentary writer. This work represents the beginning of an experimental approach that merges visual imagery with textual analysis. Collaborating with photographer Jean Mohr, Berger extended these explorations in subsequent works, delving deeper into the intersections of image and narrative. In 1973, Berger relocated to a French village. This move influenced his later projects, including A Seventh Man (1975), Another Way of Telling (1982), and his story collections Pig Earth (1979) and Once in Europa (1987), which reflect a critique of modernity through the lens of peasant life transitioning from village to urban landscapes.

Throughout Berger’s diverse body of work, a consistent theme emerges—his unyielding opposition to bourgeois society. This is perhaps best encapsulated in the 1979 preface to the reissue of Permanent Red: Essays in Seeing (1960). Berger emphasizes the significance of the title, asserting that it symbolizes his unwavering stance against the cultural and societal norms propagated by bourgeois institutions.