Quotes About Art

Reading is an act of friendly isolation. When we are reading, we make ourselves unapproachable in a tactful way. Perhaps that is exactly what has interested painters for so long in the portrayal of readers: showing people in a state of deepest intimacy not intended for outsiders. If the viewer were to approach the reader in real life, this condition would immediately be threatened. So painting allows us to see what we actually cannot see, or see only at the price of destroying it.

Art can bring us consolation as individuals," he said, "but it is powerless against reality.

The writer in him is only the shadow of the man, though so often we observe men whose art of writing is so great, but whose art of living is so modest.

what is culture, if not to wheedle from the coarse material of life, by art and love, its finest, its most delicate, its most subtle qualities?

when my own works disappeared from the German language I could more clearly grasp his lament at being able to produce the created word only in translation, in a diluted, altered medium.

Du holde Kunst, in wieviel grauen Stunden...'

nooit hebben wij (...) meer van de kunst gehouden dan in die jaren van chaos, omdat het verraad van het geld ons duidelijk maakte dat alleen het eeuwige in ons werkelijk standhield.

des âmes totalement consacrées à l'art lyrique seront-elles encore possibles à notre époque, dans nos nouvelles conditions d'existence qui arrachent les hommes à tout recueillement et les jettent hors d'eux-mêmes dans une fureur meurtrière, comme un incendie de forêt chasse les animaux de leurs plus profondes retraites ?

Y, además, ¿no es acaso lo más fácil del mundo considerarse un gran hombre cuando no se tiene ni la menor idea de que hayan existido alguna vez un Rembrandt, un Beethoven, un Dante, un Napoleón?

Durant cette heure, j'avais vu à découvert le secret éternel de tout grand art et même, à vrai dire, de toute production humaine : la concentration, le rassemblement de toutes les forces, de tous les sens, la faculté de s'abstraire de soi-même, de s'abstraire du monde, qui est le propre de tous les artistes. J'avais appris quelque chose pour la vie.

pero a quien ha conocido la embriaguez exquisita, dichosa y pura de la creación, le repugna el aguardiente como un matarratas.

In seinem Schlösschen, wo er ab 1920 mit seiner Frau und deren zwei Töchtern aus erster Ehe lebt, entstehen Novellen, Dramen und Erzählungen.

Pero a la larga, la fuerza innata de una obra no se deja ocultar, y se resiste a quedar encerrada tras las puertas del olvido. Una obra de arte puede quedar olvidada por un tiempo, puede ser prohibida u ocultada, pero la grandeza acaba siempre por vencer a lo efímero.

L'arte raggiunge sempre la sua vetta là dove diviene ragione di vita per tutto un popolo.

Was bedeutet Kultur anderes, als der groben Materie des Lebens ihr Feinstes, ihr Zartestes, ihr Subtilstes durch Kunst und Liebe zu entschmeicheln?

I was seeing a human being overflowing with emotion, forcing his passion into his fingertips lest it tear him apart.

Y, además, ¿no es mucho más fácil creerse un gran hombre cuando uno no tiene ni la menor idea de que haya existido alguna vez un Rembrandt, un Beethoven, un Dante o un Napoleón?

Art, nothing but art! Art was given us that we might not be slain by truth.

the beauty of the creative gesture is wild, unwilling and painful.

Toda nuestra fantasía y toda nuestra lógica no pueden facilitarnos sino una idea insuficiente del origen de una obra de arte.

Besides, isn't it confoundedly easy to think you're a great man if you aren't burdened with the slightest idea that Rembrandt, Beethoven, Dante or Napoleon ever lived?

Life beats down and crushes the soul, but art reminds you that you have one.

The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation.

There were so few clouds in the sky that when the sun went down it found no canvas on which to paint its picture.