"thus, van gogh's potato eaters, as a consequence of certain unmistakable distortions, turns out to be a non-facsimile of real-life potato eaters; and inasmuch as these are not facsimiles of potato eaters, van gogh's picture, as a non-imitation, had as much right to be called a real object as did its putative subjects. by means of this theory (rt), artworks re-entered the thick of things from which socratic theory (it) had sought to evict them: if no more real than what carpenters wrought, they were at least no less real. the post-impressionist won a victory in ontology."explain.