Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it was.
Jackson PollockRead
I've been thinking of death a lot, and I am amazed by its inevitability, frightened, as we all are, of the totally unknown, and yet feel a long sleep is somehow earned by those of us who live on the edge.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the inevitability of death and the fear it brings, while also suggesting that those who live life to the fullest deserve peace in the end.
Jackson Pollock's quote grapples with the universal themes of mortality and existential contemplation. He acknowledges the fear that accompanies the thought of death and the unknown, yet implies a certain appreciation for life lived on the edge. This duality suggests that those who embrace intensity and passion in their lives may earn a tranquil release when life comes to an end, bringing a nuanced understanding to the concept of mortality.
Themes
DeathMortalityExistentialismLifeFear
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on philosophy in a classroom, one might invoke this quote to explore human perceptions of mortality.
More from Jackson Pollock
All quotes →I don't paint nature. I am nature.
Jackson PollockRead
I'm very representational some of the time, and a little all of the time. But when you're painting out of your unconscious, figures are bound to emerge.
Jackson PollockRead
He drove his kind of realism at me so hard I bounced right into nonobjective painting.
Jackson PollockRead
My painting does not come from the easel.
Jackson PollockRead
I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.
Jackson PollockRead
Similar quotes
God belongs to all free beings. He is the life of all, the salvation of all ~faithful and unfaithful, just and unjust, pious and impious, passionate and dispassionate, monks and laymen, wise and simple, healthy and sick, young and old just as the effusion of light, the sight of the sun, and the changes of the seasons are for all alike; 'for there is no respect of persons with God.'
John ClimacusRead
Some journeys are direct, and some are circuitous; some are heroic, and some are fearful and muddled. But every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our deep gladness meets the world’s deep need
Parker J. PalmerRead
If one has been blessed or have been fortunate enough to have got much more than normal wealth, it is but natural that one expects a certain fiduciary responsibility in terms of how that wealth is applied, used and leveraged for purposes of society.
Azim PremjiRead
Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.
Lucius Annaeus SenecaRead
A battering ram can knock down a city wall, but it cannot stop a hole. Different things have different uses.
ZhuangziRead
Hearing often-times the still, sad music of humanity, nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power to chasten and subdue.
William WordsworthRead