An artist cannot be partially sincere any more than art can be an approximation of beauty.
Interpretation
True art requires complete sincerity from the artist, just as genuine beauty cannot be a mere imitation.
This quote emphasizes the idea that art is a reflection of the artist's sincerity and authenticity. Tarkovsky suggests that true artistic expression cannot be half-hearted; it demands a full commitment to genuine feelings and intentions. If an artist is not entirely sincere, the art they create cannot capture the true essence of beauty, leading to an inferior representation of their creative vision.
In practice
In a discussion about artistic integrity during an art gallery opening.
AN ARTISTIC DISCOVERY OCCURS EACH TIME AS A NEW AND UNIQUE IMAGE OF THE WORLD, A HIEROGLYPHIC OF ABSOLUTE TRUTH. IT APPEARS AS A REVELATION, AS A MOMENTARY, PASSIONATE WISH TO GRASP INTUITIVELY AND AT A STROKE ALL THE LAWS OF THIS WORLD-ITS BEAUTY AND UGLINESS, ITS COMPASSION AND CRUELTY, ITS INFINITY AND ITS LIMITATIONS.
When I speak of poetry I am not thinking of it as a genre. Poetry is an awareness of the world, a particular way of relating to reality. So poetry becomes a philosophy to guide a man throughout his life.
Art would be useless if the world were perfect.
Perhaps the meaning of all human activity lies in the artistic consciousness, in the pointless and selfless creative act? Perhaps our capacity to create is evidence that we ourselves were created in the image and likeness of God?
Above all, I feel that the sounds of this world are so beautiful in themselves that if only we could listen to them properly, cinema would have no need for music at all.
THE ARTISTIC IMAGE IS ALWAYS A METONYM, WHERE ONE THING IS SUBSTITUTED FOR ANOTHER, THE SMALLER FOR THE GREATER. TO TELL OF WHAT IS LIVING, THE ARTIST USES SOMETHING DEAD; TO SPEAK OF THE INFINITE, HE SHOWS THE FINITE.
But such occasions of excellence became less and less frequent. As her technique became sounder, [her] sincerity became less necessary.
Every picture has its own demands, and every picture stimulates something within you to tell it a certain way. I don't know what that is; I don't think too much about that.
We are all of us, unique - each a unique pattern of creativity and if we do not fulfill it, it is lost for all time.
I want to write poems that are natural, luminous, deep, spare. I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through and see the world.
Fiction leaves us so much work to do, allows the individual so much input; you have to see, you have to hear, you have to taste the madeleine, and while you are seemingly passive in your chair, you have to travel.
Cooking is the art of adjustment.
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