Discussion

Explanation:

The second last paragraph substantiates option 3. “It is too often forgotten how many of the art scandals of that time (19th century) were provoked by the choice of subject (Gericault, Courbet, Daumier, Degas, Lautrec, Van Gogh, etc.)”.
Option 2 can be confirmed to be true from paragraph 6 – “The general agreement about what is significant is so well established that the significance of a particular subject accrues and becomes traditional. This is true, for instance, of reeds and water in China.” The author takes the instance of renaissance art (paragraph 5) to point out that the agreement on the general meaning of a painting is influenced by culture and historical context.
Option 1 is not true. To quote from paragraph 3, “A subject does not start with what is put in front of the easel or with something which the painter happens to remember.”
Hence, the correct answer is option 1.

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