Final pages of "On Beauty"

What is the consequence of showing the painting with no verbal representation? Howard is allowing the audience to interpret the painting. He does not give the painting any of his own perception or interpretation... yet isn't that what he is to be judged on? He is also declaring his own submission to his life. This was his big chance, yet he has sabotaged his own future. He wanted to destroy his life because it was killing him, killing his entire spirit. Maybe he tries to drive his entire life into the ground as an attempt to start over. 

Do you sometimes read a novel or see a film that is ruined by someone else's interpretation of it, or their perception of particular aspects of it? 

You can't seem to enjoy anything anymore, you are stuck on understanding the deeper meaning to it.  You lose the ability to let the art do what it is suppose to do to you.. appease your eyes, appeal to your emotions. Intense analysis of anything can often ruin it's pure and natural beauty. 

The painting he presents to the audience, is actually a gift to Kiki. He is saying that he loves her, that his life is a mess, yet he still loves her. Does this happen in real life? Do people purposefully destroy their lives? Alcohol and drugs are a great example of something that people abuse as a way to destroy their own lives.  These people are trying to fail in someway. Yet they really want something out of it, they want to be noticed, they want to be recognized. What alternative motivation does Howard have for wanting to fail? He has pressure that he must live up to a certain expectation. Howard's father does not seem to appreciate Howard and what he has accomplished. He is lower class; racist, watches TV all day, does not make it out of his own environment. His father is very ignorant (his father thinks good art is only the Mona Lisa).