A critic in my house sees some paintings. Greatly perturbed, he asks for my drawings. My drawings? Never! They are my letters, my secrets.
Paul GauguinRead
A bit of advice, don't copy nature too closely. Art is an abstraction; as you dream amid nature, extrapolate art from it, and concentrate on what you will create as a result.
Interpretation
Art should draw inspiration from nature but not imitate it directly. Instead, it should be an abstraction that comes from personal creativity.
In this quote, Paul Gauguin emphasizes that while nature is a source of inspiration for artists, true art should not attempt to replicate nature in a literal sense. Instead, artists should engage with the natural world to cultivate their own unique interpretations and ideas, allowing their creativity to flow as they create something original that reflects their individual vision.
In practice
In an art class discussing the influence of nature on creativity.
A critic in my house sees some paintings. Greatly perturbed, he asks for my drawings. My drawings? Never! They are my letters, my secrets.
A hint - don't paint too much direct from nature. Art is an abstraction! study nature then brood on it and treasure the creation which will result, which is the only way to ascend towards God - to create like our Divine Master.
Life has no meaning unless one lives it with a will, at least to the limit of one's will. Virtue, good, evil are nothing but words, unless one takes them apart in order to build something with them; they do not win their true meaning until one knows how to apply them.
The flat sound of my wooden clogs on the cobblestones, deep, hollow and powerful, is the note I seek in my painting.
Art is either plagiarism or revolution.
Art requires philosophy, just as philosophy requires art. Otherwise, what would become of beauty?
I wanted to write a show about an estate that wasn't sad or morbid, like a lot of shows portray working class life to be.
A lot of people insisted on a wall between modern dance and ballet. I'm beginning to think that walls are very unhealthy things.
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.
Film should be looked at straight on; it is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.
The world concerns me only in so far as I feel a certain indebtedness and duty toward it because I have walked this earth for thirty years, and, out of gratitude, want to leave some souvenir in the shape of drawings or pictures — not made to please a certain taste in art, but to express a sincere human feeling.
The artistic life is a long, lovely suicide.
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