Was he or wasn’t he? He hated being called it, but that’s what John Berger was, from first to last: an art critic.

He was born in London in 1926, and studied painting at the Chelsea and Central schools of art. But after a period of working as an artist, he quite abruptly stopped painting and took up writing full-time. Why? He explained his reasons in 2010.

“It was a very conscious decision to stop painting – not stopping drawing – and write,” he told The New Statesman. “A painter is like a violinist: you have to play every single day, you can’t do it sporadically. For me there were too many political urgencies to spend my life painting. Most urgent was the threat of nuclear war – the risk of course came from Washington, not Moscow.”

From the later 1940s he was writings talks for the BBC about art, and contributing often quite fierce polemic to the pages of Tribune and The New Statesman.

A collection of those articles was published in 1960, in a book with the wholly appropriate title of Permanent Red. In 1962 he left Britain to begin a decade-long, peripatetic life in Europe, which only came to an end in the middle-1970s, when he settled in the village of Quincy in the French Pyrenees. By this time he was deep into a career as a full-time writer and cultural polemicist.

It was perhaps Ways Of Seeing, the 1972 BBC television series, which established him as a household name – to such an extent that we forget that both the project itself and the book, of the same name, that it inspired were collaborative efforts. Berger was always a big, bold talker.

That series, which tore into the fusty orthodoxies of Harris Tweed-jacketed art connoisseurs the world over, proved in its Marxist-lite cheek and boldness (he was happy to call himself “a sort of Marxist” to the end), its trenchant juxtapositions and its unabashed pugnacity, to be a tonic for the googlebox-viewing nation. Ways of Seeing is still regarded as a key book on the subjects of art, culture and politics – three words which Berger regarded as inextricably bound up with each other.

Last weekend I spotted it in the bookshop of National Portrait Gallery in London, still going strong after nearly half a century. Some of the questions that it posed are as important now as they ever were – what does seeing represent? How does art relate to the market? What is the difference between nude and naked?

It made clear that paintings have designs upon us, that oil painting and the idea of property go hand-in-hand, and that oil painting not only in fact invented a way of seeing, but was also a celebration of private property – and a sign of affluence. Short, and so briefly sketched out, the book’s agenda was to be a summary of Berger’s life work.

What perhaps dates it most of all when reread now is its view of museum-going, which it describes as a pastime that only the elite indulge in.

That is no longer the case – thanks, in part at least, to the extraordinary success of Tate Modern, which launched in 2000.

And what we are very much aware of, too, was the extent to which many of its insights were a straight steal from the writings of the great German critic Walter Benjamin – but then Berger was always a bit of an over-eager magpie. That aside, Berger encouraged the hoi polloi to look hard and forensically at individual works of art, not to have our seeing blunted and rendered soft-edged by easy pieties about the awe-inspiring exercise of masterful technique.

Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. He died on December 24 in Marbella, Spain Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Lord Jenkin of Roding died at the age of 90 on the 21 December PA wire Notable deaths in 2016 Rabbi Lionel Blue died on the 19 December Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Zsa Zsa Gabor died on December 18 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Leonard Cohen died on 7 November Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Grand secretary of the Orange Order Drew Nelson died on 10 October aged 60 after a short illness PA Notable deaths in 2016 Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight died Sunday, Oct. 9, at the age of 60 at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease AP Notable deaths in 2016 Polish Director Andrzej Wajda died on October 9, aged 90 Reuters Notable deaths in 2016 Stylianos Pattakos has died following a stroke on 8th October. He was 103 years old. AP Notable deaths in 2016 Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 8th October. He was 84 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Duke of Westminster Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor has died on 9 August, aged 64 Rex Features Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Knudsen Sir Roger Moore’s stepdaughter Christina Knudsen has died from cancer on 25 July at teh age of 47 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Caroline Aherne The actress Caroline Aherne has died from cancer on 2 July at the age of 52 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Grimmie Christina Grimmie, 22, who was an American singer and songwriter, known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando on 10 June when an assailant shot her. Grimmie was transported to a local hospital where she died from her wounds on 11 June Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Kimbo Slice Former UFC and Bellator MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died after being admitted to hospital in Florida on 6 June, aged 42 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Muhammad Ali The three-time former heavyweight world champion died after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on 3 June, aged 74 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Sally Brampton Brampton who was the launch editor of the UK edition of Elle magazine has died on 10 May, aged 60 Grant Triplow/REX/Shutterstock Notable deaths in 2016 Billy Paul The soul singer Billy Paul, who was best known for his single “Me and Mrs Jones”, has died on 24 April, aged 81 Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Prince Prince, the legendary musician, has been found dead at his Paisley Park recording studio on 21 April. He was 57 Notable deaths in 2016 Chyna WWE icon Joan Laurer dies aged 45 after being found at California home on 20 April Notable deaths in 2016 Victoria Wood The five-time Bafta-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood has died on 20 April at her London home after a short illness with cancer. She was 62 Notable deaths in 2016 David Gest The entertainer and former husband of Liza Minnelli, David Gest has been found dead on 12 April in the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Warf, London. He was 62-years-old PA Notable deaths in 2016 Denise Robertson Denise Robertson, an agony aunt on This Morning for over 30 years, has died on 1 April, aged 83 Notable deaths in 2016 Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Hadid, the prominent architect best known for designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House, has died of a heart attack on 31 March, aged 65 2010 AFP Notable deaths in 2016 Ronnie Corbett British entertainer Ronnie Corbett has passed away on 31 March at the age of 85 2014 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Imre Kertesz Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz, who won the 2002 Nobel Literature Prize, has died on 31 March, at the age of 86 REUTERS Notable deaths in 2016 Rob Ford Rob Ford, the former controversial mayor of Toronto, has died following a battle with a rare form of cancer. The 46-year-old passed away at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on 22 March Notable deaths in 2016 Joey Feek Joey (left) passed away in March after a two-year cancer illness. She was part of country music duo, Joey + Rory, with her husband Rory (right) Jason Merritt/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Umberto Eco Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco died 19 February 2016 aged 84 EPA Notable deaths in 2016 Harper Lee Harper Lee, the American novelist known for writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird', died February 19, 2016 aged 89 2005 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Vanity Vanity, pictured performing in 1983, died aged 57 REX Features Notable deaths in 2016 Dave Mirra The BMX legend's body found inside truck with gunshot wound after apparent suicide aged 41 Notable deaths in 2016 Harry Harpham The former miner became Sheffield Labour MP in May after many years as a local councillor. He died after succumbing to cancer, at the age of 61. Notable deaths in 2016 Dale Griffin The Mott the Hoople drummer died on January 17, aged 67 REX Notable deaths in 2016 Rene Angelil Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil has lost his battle with cancer on 14 January, aged 73 2011 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Alan Rickman Legendary actor Alan Rickman has died on 14 January at the age of 69 after battle with pancreatic cancer. He is largely regarded as one of the most beloved British actors of our generation with roles in Love Actually, Die Hard, Michael Collins, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and an illustrious stage career 2015 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Maurice White The Earth, Wind & Fire founder died aged 74. The nine-piece band sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy awards Notable deaths in 2016 Lawrence Phillips Former NFL star found dead in prison cell on 13 January in suspected suicide, aged 40 AFP/Getty Images

Berger was a compelling storyteller. The book is a testament to his belief that there can be no true and honest speaking about art without telling the human story that underpins both the making and appreciation of artworks. This aspect of his talent was to show itself in his many forays into novel and screenplay writing.

His 1954 novel called A Painter of Our Time featured two characters who come together over a shared passion for a particular painting by Goya on display at the National Gallery. G, the rigorously experimental novel he published in 1972, won him the Booker prize. What he did with part of the proceeds of that prize is more readily brought to mind than the plot of the novel itself: he donated it to the African-American Black Panther movement in order, as he put it, “to turn the prize upon itself” (a reference to his claim that prize’s sponsor had indirectly profited from slave labour in the Carribbean).

In 1975 he wrote A Seventh Man – accompanied by the photographs of Jean Mohr, it cast a cold and censorious eye on the misuse of migrant labour in Europe. Throughout his life it was art which not only informed and invigorated his writing, but also gave him a way of seeing into the relationship between the powerful and the powerless.

And he looked at and reflected upon art in so many different ways that the eyes of more conventional art critics boggled in near disbelief: through plays and polemic, poems, essays and short stories.

There was always so much to be said, and a single life – even the life of a Berger in a hurry – was far too short a time in which to say the all that needed to be said. His book of 2015, John Berger and Artists, published when he was 89, ran to more than 500 pages, and every last one of them was like a wrestling match with words, a non-stop display of ideas in ferment.