Picard's Red Outburst
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard, left alone, angrily throws red paint over his canvas, expressing his frustration.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Neutral, analytically engaged; unaware that his precise observations are emotionally injuring his instructor.
Data enters softly, informs Picard of the away team's status at Tanuga Four, then methodically inspects each student's painting and delivers an exacting, technical critique before politely offering further assistance and departing.
- • Communicate the away team's field status to the captain
- • Examine and classify the students' paintings using art-historical taxonomy
- • Be helpful and informative to Picard
- • Fulfill duty by reporting facts accurately and completely
- • Objective, categorized information is valuable and appropriate in social settings
- • Providing accurate critique is a form of assistance
- • Emotional subtext is secondary to factual description
- • Clear reporting maintains operational and social order
Surface composure and politeness masking escalating irritation and wounded pride, culminating in a sudden, private eruption of anger and shame.
Picard receives Data's formal critique, masks growing irritation, then, after Data exits, physically upends composure: he removes brushes from a jar and throws bright red paint across his canvas in a single violent gesture.
- • Maintain decorum and avoid public embarrassment in front of his peers
- • Deflect or minimize Data's critique to preserve artistic dignity
- • Privately vent frustration without creating a scene that implicates the class
- • Reclaim authorship of his self-image through a physical, expressive act
- • Art is a personal expression not reducible to cold analysis
- • Data's objective criticism undermines human emotional nuance
- • Maintaining commandly composure in public is essential to reputation
- • A private gesture can restore some internal equilibrium when words fail
Neutral and professional; unaffected by the conversation and actions occurring around her.
The nude female model holds her pose as the class proceeds and remains an impassive focal subject while the interpersonal exchange among students and officers unfolds around her.
- • Maintain the pose for the duration of the class
- • Provide a consistent subject for study
- • Remain unobtrusive to the participants
- • My role is to maintain the pose and support the class
- • Professional neutrality helps students focus
- • Emotional reactions of observers are outside my responsibility
Neutral to slightly pleased curiosity; receptive to critique and classroom atmosphere.
Ensign Williams stands among the students as Data examines the paintings; Data comments on 'Woman with flowers' as Williams steps aside to allow inspection and listens to the appraisal.
- • Present her work to class observers
- • Absorb feedback to improve technique
- • Respect senior officers' access to the works
- • Critical feedback is part of artistic growth
- • Senior officers' opinions hold instructional weight
- • Classroom is a safe space for critique
Calm and mildly interested; non-confrontational reception of Data's commentary.
Lieutenant Wright is present with 'Woman with violin'; he steps back as Data offers an art-historical analysis of his painting and remains a quiet participant in the brief critique session.
- • Have his painting viewed and evaluated
- • Learn from critique without defensiveness
- • Maintain decorum in the mixed-rank classroom
- • Objective critique advances skill
- • Class is an egalitarian learning environment despite rank
- • Senior officers will model proper behavior
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The holodeck doors are the physical threshold through which Data enters and exits; their quiet parting marks the intrusion of external duty into a private space and the closing of that intrusion immediately before Picard's private rebound.
Jean-Luc Picard's paintbrush is present at his easel as a ritual tool of his practice: he initially puts it aside when Data interrupts, and its earlier handling marks his disciplined technique even as he later abandons careful brushwork for a sudden, forceful splash of red paint.
The 'Woman with Violin' canvas is inspected by Data during his systematic survey of the students' work; it functions as a comparative prop that helps showcase Data's impersonal taxonomy and heightens the contrast with Picard's emotionally charged reaction.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Tanuga Four Research Station is invoked through Data's report — not physically present but narratively active: its survey status and Doctor Apgar's work supply the off-screen stakes that interrupt the holodeck's intimacy and introduce investigative pressure into the class.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data's harsh critique of Picard's painting leads to Picard's frustrated reaction, showing his vulnerability and setting a tone of emotional tension that parallels his later struggles with Riker's case."
"Data's harsh critique of Picard's painting leads to Picard's frustrated reaction, showing his vulnerability and setting a tone of emotional tension that parallels his later struggles with Riker's case."
Key Dialogue
"DATA: We have arrived at Tanuga Four, Captain. The away team has completed its survey of Doctor Apgar's work and is ready to return to the ship."
"DATA: While suggesting the free treatment of form usually attributed to Fauvism, this quite inappropriately attempts to juxtapose the disparate cubistic styles of Picasso and Leger. In addition, the use of color suggests a haphazard melange of clashing styles. Furthermore, the unsettling overtones of proto-Vulcan influences..."
"PICARD: No... thank you."