Under the title NADIR AFONSO theory as a lesson, this article seeks to extend the understanding of (1) aesthetic thought, and (2) the theoretical approach. Indeed, the intention is to expand upon a number of issues that have previously been addressed elsewhere. Chief among these are the importance of aesthetic practice as an ideological approach, and the extreme originality of Nadir's writings in the context of art theory. Taking painting and text as my starting point, I would like to make a foray into the interstices between research and creation in painting. Setting out, as is quite natural, from the realm of creation and research in painting, I intend to suggest the possibility that painting is a process that occurs in the gap between thinking and doing. In other words, that it happens in the space between theory and practice, thus opening up the potential of theory as a painting lesson - a lesson in the broadest sense of the word, and one that incorporates, in noting the way in which artistic creation is received, the acts of revealing, learning and interpreting the transposition of knowledge into action, in both artistic production and critical reception.