In persons with astigmatism, the clear outer layer of the eye is defor

Hey folks!

This is a super interesting question. Here is a rough drawing I made for option D. Hope this helps clear the confusions about this option, from students! (Right click and open in a new tab if the image is not loading). I have tried to explain the logic below, just in case the image does not load .





Option D: the explanation fails to consider the effect of the hypothesized astigmatism on El Greco's perception of his own paintings

What this means: While the explanation suggests that Greco suffered from Astigmatism, and that this would impact how he perceived an object (it would look more elongated), the explanation fails to consider the fact that Greco's astigmatism would also apply to how he would view the painting he would make.

What would happen: As Greco makes the painting based on what he sees (elongated object), his painting will look exactly the same as the actual object to a non-astigmatic eye (i.e. without elongation - because only then would the painting look exactly the same for Greco (who has astigmatism) as the object)


In other words, if Greco had astigmatism, it would apply not just to his perception of the object, but also to his perception of the painting. This would ensure that the painting and the object would look exactly the same. However, in reality, the objects in the painting are elongated. Which implies that astigmatism cannot be the reason for the elongation in Greco's paintings.


Hope this helps!

Harsha


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In persons with astigmatism, the clear outer layer of the eye is deformed in a way that impairs and sometimes distorts vision. The elongated figures in the paintings of El Greco (1541–1614) were so unusual that some critics sought to explain them by hypothesizing that, without knowing it, El Greco had an astigmatism that caused everything to appear to him in the distorted way that was characteristic of his painted figures.

P : astigmatism distorts vision
P : El Greco had elongated figures in the paintings.
C : El Greco might have had an astigmatism

The proposed explanation is most vulnerable to the criticism that it fails to

A. establish that during the period in which El Greco lived, there was any correction available to those who did realize their vision was distorted
-> Irrelevant, Because the conclusion is under presumption that El Greco did not know that he had astigmatism, this option is irrelevant. We should not question the premise nor the presumption.

B. provide evidence that astigmatism was common in the 1500s and 1600s
-> Irrelevant. Commonness has nothing to do with El Greco

C. consider that the critics who proposed the explanation might have suffered from astigmatism
-> This argument is to explain why El Greco had an elongate paintings.

D. consider the effect of the hypothesized astigmatism on El Greco's perception of his own paintings
-> Correct. If astigmatism elongated El Greco's vision, he would had view his own paintings while he was drawing with his elongated view. Interesting fact here is that in order to get an elongated view in his paintings, the painting needs to have actual exact figure. With the elongated view of the painting object and the elongated view with his painting, El Greco will finally be satisfied that he draw the object exactly. In fact, in such case painting will have actual figure of the object.

E. allow for the possibility that artists see the world differently than do nonartists
-> Irrelevant. This is too general. Critics are not trying to defuse the possibility but are trying to explain what have caused such painting figures.

Astigmatism- eye defect- the clear outer layer of the eye is deformed in a way that impairs and sometimes distorts vision.

The elongated figures in the paintings of El Greco (1541–1614) were unusual

some critics sought to explain the paintings by hypothesizing that, without knowing it, El Greco had an astigmatism that caused everything to appear to him in the distorted way that was characteristic of his painted figures.

We need to find the flaw in the argument.

The critics say that El Greco had astigmatism. Everything he saw appeared distorted to him and that was characteristic of his painted figures.

Let’s assume that El Greco had astigmatism. In that case, he sees everything elongated. Including the canvas and his paintings. So if he draws a circle, that will appear elongated to him. The circle will appear circle to others and elongated to El Graco. Hence, the paintings cannot be proof that he has astigmatism.. The critics fail to consider this. Therefore the critics’ hypothesis is vulnerable to criticism.

This is what is stated in Option D

D. consider the effect of the hypothesized astigmatism on El Greco's perception of his own paintings.

The critics fail to consider the effect of hypothesized astigmatism on El Greco's perception of his own paintings- how the paintings appear to him.

Hope this helps

VP
GMAT Verbal SME

I have been using the Wiley online question bank of the 2021 official guide and I am surprised to see they have categorized this question as an "Easy" question. I doubt how they go about arranging that.

What are your thoughts bb VeritasKarishma @KarishmaVeirtas GMATNinja Bunuel manhattangmat

kittle - The question is not easy. I would call it above 700 level. Yes, to some it is natural (the ones with strong reasoning skills) and occurs in pre-thinking itself that he would see his own paintings distorted too. The critics are assuming that he would see his muse distorted and would accurately paint that on canvas (as per his view). That cannot happen. Everything he sees is distorted, even his own painted figure.

But when it doesn't strike the students, it becomes quite challenging to convince them of the logic. There is a lightbulb moment when it suddenly fits but till then, it is a struggle. Whether it will fit in those 2 mins of high pressure during the test is hard to say.
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- The elongated figures in the painting of El Greco were very unusual
- Critics hypothesize that El Greco had an astigmatism that caused everything to appear to him in a distorted way that was characteristic of his painted figures.
The proposed explanation is most vulnerable to the criticism that it fails to:

What was the explanation?
El Greco had an astigmatism that caused everything to appear to him in the distorted way that was characteristic of his painted figures.

I think it’s tough to find holes in this particular explanation before reading the choices, so let’s jump straight to the answer choices.

A. establish that during the period in which El Greco lived, there was any correction available to those who did realize their vision was distorted

Whether there was any correction available is not important. Critics hypothesize that El Greco had an astigmatism that caused things to appear distorted to him. Establishing if there were corrective measures does not impact this explanation.

B. provide evidence that astigmatism was common in the 1500s and 1600s

Whether astigmatism was common during this time frame is not important and does not impact the proposed explanation whatsoever.

C. consider that the critics who proposed the explanation might have suffered from astigmatism

We know that El Greco's paintings were very unusual, leading to the belief that El Greco had astigmatism. The critics might have astigmatism, but what impact would that have on the proposed explanation? We want to find something that attacks the explanation, not the critics giving the explanation.

D. consider the effect of the hypothesized astigmatism on El Greco's perception of his own paintings

Critics hypothesize that El Greco had an astigmatism that caused everything to appear to him in a distorted way that was characteristic of his painted figures. Perhaps the astigmatism resulted in everything to appear to him normally. This directly attacks the proposed explanation. Keep this one.

E. allow for the possibility that artists see the world differently than do nonartists

This choice doesn't go into the critics hypothesis, but rather suggests something else -- typical of incorrect Weaken choices.

Answer is D.
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From Manhattan:

The language vulnerable to the criticism in the question stem indicates that this is a Find the Flaw question. This can be confirmed by glancing at the answer choices, which describe flaws with the existing argument, rather than additional facts as in a weaken questions.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument

astig: eye deform → distorts vision

EG paintings = weird, distorted

Ⓒcritics: EG →astig


Step 3: Pause and State the Goal

On Flaw questions, the correct answer will essentially be the opposite to those for Find the Assumption problems. Here, the goal is to identify a valid criticism of the argument or a flawed assumption that the argument is making. In this case, the question asks for a criticism of the conclusion that EG’s paintings were distorted because of the artist’s distorted vision.


Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right

(A) The critics hypothesize that El Greco was painting in this way because of an astigmatism that he was unaware of (without knowing it). Therefore, whether correction was available to those who were aware of their condition is irrelevant.

(B) An astigmatism need not be common in order for El Greco to have had one. Failing to mention its prevalence is not a flaw of the argument.

(C) Whether the critics themselves had an astigmatism does not impact the connection they are trying to make between the distorted figures that EG painted and the distorted vision of someone with an astigmatism.

(D) CORRECT. If EG had had an astigmatism, then it is likely that the figures EG painted would have appeared even more distorted to EG himself. In fact, the astigmatism might have exacerbated his perception of the elongation of the figures. In that case he might have naturally corrected, resulting in images that would look more normal to those without the astigmatism. That he did not naturally correct for this distortion suggests that EG would have been aware of his condition if he had one.

(E) Although the critics hypothesize that El Greco’s distorted vision was responsible for the elongated figures in his work, they are not saying that artists cannot see the world differently than non-artists, in either the case of all artists or in the case of El Greco specifically. There is no evidence to suggest that they are reaching this conclusion.

I have gone through the available explanations to this solution but i am still not clear why D is the correct answer choice.

The passage proposes that if El Greco had astigmatism, this would explain why he painted elongated figures in his paintings. In other words, because astigmatism would have distorted El Greco's vision, it would have caused him to paint distorted figures.

The correct answer should provide a strong criticism of this explanation. Basically, it should call into question the idea that distorted vision would cause El Greco to paint distorted figures.

Let's now examine (D):


To analyze (D), let's imagine El Greco had distorted vision, and that he tried to paint a short tree. Because of his distorted vision, El Greco would see the short tree as tall, even though in reality it was short. Next, he would paint an image of this tree. The question is - would the image he painted be short or tall?

Well, imagine the image he painted was short. To him, the image would look tall. To us, however, the image would still look short. In other words, because his astigmatism would affect the way he perceives his own paintings, he would not actually paint a tall (i.e. distorted) image. He would simply paint a short (i.e. normal) image that would appear tall to him.

So astigmatism would not explain why El Greco painted distorted images. Because even if he had astigmatism, it would distort his perception of his own paintings.

I hope that helps!
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What I was able to infer from the option D is "what would be effect of this hypothesized astigmatism on his own perception of paintings if his style to paint was actually a distorted one." is this correct ?

hey GMATNinja! if you could please help me comprehend the answer of this question

Consider a similar question to the one in this problem:

If The way I see 'red' things is the way you see 'blue,' and the way I see 'blue' is the way you see 'red,' and I sit down to paint a red apple as I see it, what color will you *see* it? You might be tempted to say 'blue,' but that's actually not accurate. Since my red and blue is reversed, if I paint a red apple, I'll grab red paint to do so--even though I'll *see* it as blue, it matches what the apple is. If I painted the apple with blue paint, it would not look the way I see apples! (Painted an apple with blue paint is the way I could see the *accurate* version of an apple, but it would not be how I actually see apples).

So here, the theory is: if I perceive people as elongated, I wouldn't *paint* them as elongated also... because then my perception would make them even MORE elongated. I would paint the bodies as normal shaped, because that would make them appear 'normal' by my perception (even if my perception of them is 'elongated' compared to yours).
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