Which of these art quotes speak truthfully to you and which do you disagree with? Just vote for your favorite and why you disagree with any. Truth or fiction? It’s all subjective.
I agree with Da Vinci who illustrates the difference between poetry and art so succinctly.
Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen. ~Leonardo da Vinci
But as usual, Picasso has a rather dramatic yet persuasive way with words (but I can’t disagree with him)
We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. ~Pablo Picasso.
I can see where Mattise is coming from – but he makes it sound so boring:-
I don’t paint things. I only paint the difference between things. ~Henri Matisse
I also agree with Degas too. I have seen a lot of very delightful art made by untrained children and sometimes breaking the rules can free your art.
Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do. ~Edgar Degas
Rouault’s strangled laugh sounds quite terrifying, a kind of torturous escapism (and one I haven’t experienced…yet) so I would have to disagree with him:-
For me, painting is a way to forget life. It is a cry in the night, a strangled laugh. ~Georges Rouault
I have to agree with Claes Oldenburg to an extent, I do like art to do something rather than sit in a museum – but I do like to know where it is for when I want to visit it 🙂
I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum. ~Claes Oldenburg
So, to sum up Leonardo Da Vinci gets my ‘truth’ vote and poor old Rouault gets my disagreement vote 😉
Art quotes are from The Quote garden
The puzzle image comes from here
PLUS
Echostains Blog 
As a very primitive painter I can be satisfied with an attempt. But as you advance in ability your sense of inferiority increases because you can now see what is poorly done so I agree with De gas. Disagree with Picasso. All his stuff may be a lie as it is such a distortion, bet generally art is less deceitful that life.
The thing with Picasso is that he makes his art look and sound so effortless – like it’s nothing and anyone could do it. His ego is well known though…. so I don’t think he’s fooling anyone 🙂 His cubism was a stroke of genius, and not a ‘happy accident’. He tends to toss these quips so effortlessly into the air – probably just to see where they fall 😀
I agree with the Degas quote too Carl. The Degas quote reminds me of the ‘you must first unlearn what you have learned’ when applying yourself to rock music. I thinks this works for art too sometimes – especially when you want to discover new pathways, sometimes you have to sweep aside the old to make way for the new.
This can be particularly hard for those set and trained in their ways – but also very rewarding and exciting. Good comment Carl – many thanks 🙂
My gut agrees da Vinci—as does my poetic bias. Great post. Many excellent statements to contemplate 🙂
Hahah another for Da Vinci – seems he had a gift for words as well as art 🙂
The creativity and insight you pour into your blog never ceases to amaze me. Every time I visit I learn something, Thank You.
I agree with Da Vinci. Degas also definitely has a point; if you want to break the “rules”, first you have to learn them.
Recently I was asked what I felt it meant to be a Poet. After consideration, I tried to explain: “We’re like Alchemists; we search within ourselves for a truth, our truth, then choose a living symbol in our world which corresponds or juxtaposes, and finally we translate that into an emotional algorithm of words.”
Yet, I feel that I always fall short in attempting to explain the creative process. However, here each Artist you’ve quoted, whether I agree or not, reveals another facet to the act of creation…a mystery with which I will forever be fascinated.
May I please add two of my favorites to the discussion? Unsurprisingly, both are from Vincent.
“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.” ~Vincent van Gogh
“Oh, my dear boy, sometimes I know so well what I want. I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, ill as I am, do without something which is greater than I—the power to create.” ~Vincent van Gogh to Theo, Letter no. 531
Thanks again!
D.C.
Dawn Runs Amok, that is indeed a brilliant quote by Van Gogh! And so true too! The last quote of his shows just how passionate and how all consuming Van Gogh’s art was to him. If I ran a poll for most creative quote by a reader, I ‘m sure you would be in the running to win with your own quote about poetry;-
““We’re like Alchemists; we search within ourselves for a truth, our truth, then choose a living symbol in our world which corresponds or juxtaposes, and finally we translate that into an emotional algorithm of words.”
Keep reading the blog – and thanks, it’s apprecaited 😀
“Only those questions that are in principle undecidable, we can decide.”
Heinz von Foerster: Ethics and Second-Order Cybernetics, 1990-10-04 (Système et thérapie familiale, Paris)
Von Foerster’ did not talk about art then. But what he said, applies to the perception of paintings.
I like that quote Goetz Kluge, and you can apply it to paintings. The artist has the last word in deciding – sometimes he gets it wrong (in his view) but if he feels he gets it right, I don’t think it matters if people disagree with him (though it might make adifference to him eating that night 🙂 )
My favorite quotes related to art:
“All art is infested by other art”
Leo Steinberg (Art about Art, 1979)
“We have neglected the gift of comprehending things through our senses. Concept is divorced from percept, and thought moves among abstractions. Our eyes have been reduced to instruments with which to identify and to measure; hence we suffer a paucity of ideas that can be expressed in images and in an incapacity to discover meaning in what we see. Naturally we feel lost in the presence of objects that make sense only to undeluted vision, and we seek refuge in the more familiar medium of words. … The inborn capacity to understand through the eyes has been put to sleep and must be reawakened.”
Rudolf Arnheim: Art and Visual Perception, 1974, p. 1
I think I’m going to have to do more these art quote polls and include your first quote by Leo Steinberg about art infesting other art Goetz Kluge. This rings true with me – art inspires art! The other quote, I’m not too sure about. I think we still comprehend through our senses (I know I do). It hasn’t happened very often, but I have looked at paintings and immediately ‘understood’ them. That feeling is a very powerful one indeed. One of these paintings was ‘The Head of Gerda Boehm’ by Frank Auerbach. That painting actually reached out to me and I could immediately feel what the artist was trying to do and why he painted the same painting using the same sitter day after day.
Thanks for reading and commenting Goetz – it’s always appreciated 🙂
I did not know which quote to vote for as I can see the truth in all of them. I thoroughly enjoy reading them, though, Lynda. Any input from other artists or vision statements hold my interest. Thank you!
Aw never mind Leslie, I do see what you mean though 🙂 I think there’s only the Rouault one I can’t identify with really.