For more than two thousand years, the painted image has been critical to the culture of the West. At the beginning of the 21st century, however, painting sits quietly in a small corner and is, for the most part, ignored. Museums increasingly devote their contemporary exhibition space to "installation art," as opposed to discrete objects such as sculptures or paintings. Contemporary private galleries are the same. To answer the question of whether painting still matters without resorting to platitudes about art and beauty, the case for abstract painting must be made first. Making the case for abstract painting will lead to looking at the meaning and structure of painting, rather than its changing subject matter. This fastback sometimes will include a discussion of all painting, or painting in general. It looks at painting in history to arrive at the relevance of painting in the contemporary world. (BT)