A lot of art for me appears unconnected to an idea. On first look, Vermeer's Het Straatje appears to be nothing special, just a Dutch street. It appears to be nothing more than it depicts (I just read something about Kant, so dare I say ding an sich?) But after being pointed out by that very same Art is Therapy tour that it can be seen as a celebration of everyday life, the painting made some ideological sense. The Rijksmuseum had tons of paintings to which I don't know the backstory, the context, the influences well enough to understand what it really tries to say. Most of the paintings there I valued on not much more than their aesthetics. Oh, look, a vase painted with really nice lighting. That's nice. Maybe the painter tried to say something beyond 'I can paint', but to me, that message is lost.