Quotes About Art

Authors, artists, and even philosophers are much better off having a very small number of fanatics behind them than a large number of people who appreciate their work. The number of persons who dislike the work don't count—there is no such thing as the opposite of buying your book

Michelangelo was asked by the pope about the secret of his genius, particularly how he carved the statue of David, largely considered the masterpiece of all masterpieces. His answer was: "It's simple. I just remove everything that is not David.

Had Prozac been available last century, Baudelaire's "spleen," Edgar Allan Poe's moods, the poetry of Sylvia Plath, the lamentations of so many other poets, everything with a soul would have been silenced. …

The very same desire for order, interestingly, applies to scientific pursuits-it is just that, unlike art, the (stated) purpose of science is to get to the truth, not to give you a feeling of organization or make you feel better. We tend to use knowledge as therapy.

jealousy is to be found within the same art, talent, and condition.*10

Proclus was known to repeat the metaphor that statues are carved by subtraction.. Michelangelo was asked how he carved the statue of David, his answer as: It's simple. I just remove everything that is not David.

Salespeople are experts in the art of psychological manipulation, making the client trade, often against his own interest

El arte es una conversación unilateral con lo no observado.

A distortion is meant to bring about an enhancement for your aesthetic experience.

Note that art, because of its dependence on word of mouth, is extremely prone to these cumulative-advantage effects.

Il romanzo è fra le cose del mondo che sono insieme inutili e necessarie.

Munch está muerto desde hace tiempo, como pintor, le sobrevive un viejecito limpio y modesto, que pinta malos cuadros y que tal vez ha encontrado la salud en la mediocridad.

red and pink and orange

Un poète n'est pas, comme on le croit, celui qui sait mieux que d'autres regarder la terre et le ciel, écouter le bruit de la mer, le gazouillis des sources et des oiseaux, un poète, vous en serez un, mon petit ami - les pièces sonnent, elle salue bien bas - un poète, on l'a dit et c'est vrai, c'est celui qui sait fabriquer un poème avec des mots.

Art Is a Way Out. Do not let life overwhelm you. When the old paths are choked with the débris of failure, look for newer and fresher paths. Art is just such a path. Art is distilled from suffering.

The art of being is the art of knowing ourselves, of accepting and existing in harmony with ourselves, and of living out, in action, the highest possibilities of our nature. It includes three basic concepts: self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-assertion.

Moonlight is sculpture.

Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them than the poet or artist has actually expressed.

Creation was not finished till the poet came to interpret, and so complete it.

And as for Owen Warland, he looked placidly at what seemed the ruin of his life's labor, and which was yet no ruin. He had caught a far other butterfly than this. When the artist rose high enough to achieve the beautiful, the symbol by which he made it perceptible to mortal senses became of little value in his eyes while his spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of the reality.

as to the better centuries that are coming, the artist was surely right. His error lay, in supposing that his age, more than any past or future one, is destined to see the tattered garments of Antiquity exchanged for a new suit, instead of gradually renewing themselves by patchwork…

It depresses me to look at old frescos, responded the Count; it is a pain, yet not enough of a pain to answer as a penance.

When we see how little we can express, it is a wonder that any man ever takes up a pen a second time.

When the artist rose high enough to achieve the beautiful, the symbol by which he made it perceptible to mortal senses became of little value in his eyes while his spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of the reality.