A painting’s back can tell a history its front was never designed to show.

The back of a painting carries what the front was never meant to admit: labels, repairs, previous owners, the marks of storage and travel and damage. It is the working record of an object that the front presents as timeless. The history is there, just facing the wall.

Most things you admire have a back. The polished career, the steady family, the composed person all have their labels and repairs somewhere out of view. Do not mistake the front for the whole object, either in judging others or in feeling that your own accumulated repairs disqualify you. Everything that has lasted has been mended.