Is not the most erotic part of the body wherever the clothing affords a glimpse?
Roland BarthesRead
Eiffel saw his Tower in the form of a serious object, rational, useful; men return it to him in the form of a great baroque dream which quite naturally touches on the borders of the irrational ... architecture is always dream and function, expression of a utopia and instrument of a convenience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that architecture combines both rational utility and dreamlike imagination.
Roland Barthes explores the dual nature of architecture through the example of the Eiffel Tower, emphasizing how its creator viewed it as a functional structure, while society perceives it as a grand and fantastical monument. This interplay between practicality and dream highlights how art can embody both rational design and the aspirations of human imagination, ultimately serving as both a tool for convenience and a representation of idealistic visions.
Themes
ArchitectureDreamFunctionUtopiaDesign
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about innovative design, you might reference this quote to highlight the balance between utility and creativity.
More from Roland Barthes
All quotes →If I acknowledge my dependency, I do so because for me it is a means of signifying my demand: in the realm of love, futility is not a "weakness" or an "absurdity": it is a strong sign: the more futile, the more it signifies and the more it asserts itself as strength.)
Roland BarthesRead
The gesture of the amorous embrace seems to fulfill, for a time, the subject's dream of total union with the loved being: The longing for consummation with the other.
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The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture.
Roland BarthesRead
I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object.
Roland BarthesRead
All those young photographers who are at work in the world, determined upon the capture of actuality, do not know that they are agents of Death.
Roland BarthesRead
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