An art which isn't based on feeling isn't an art at all... feeling is the principle, the beginning and the end; craft, objective, technique - all these are in the middle.
The landscape thinks itself in me and I am its consciousness.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Cézanne expresses the deep connection between the artist and the landscape, suggesting that he perceives and embodies the essence of nature through his consciousness.
In this quote, Paul Cézanne reflects on the intrinsic relationship between the artist and the natural world. He suggests that the landscapes he paints are not just objects to be represented, but they resonate with his own being and consciousness. This introspection reveals how an artist interprets their environment, making it a part of their identity and creative expression.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During an art class, a teacher might reference this quote to illustrate the personal connection artists have with their subjects.
More from Paul Cezanne
All quotes →Taste is the best judge. It is rare. Art only addresses itself to an excessively small number of individuals.
Monet is only an eye, but my God, what an eye!
If I were called upon to define briefly the word Art, I should call it the reproduction of what the senses preceive in nature, seen through the veil of the soul.
I lack the magnificent richness of color that animates nature.
Pure drawing is an abstraction. Drawing and colour are not distinct, everything in nature is coloured.
Similar quotes
All my stories are like the Greek and Roman myths, and the Egyptian myths, and the Old and New Testament.
The pointes for girls, I always say, have to be like an elephant's trunk; strong and yet flexible and soft.
What is it that an artist does when he is left alone in his studio? My conclusion was that if I was an artist and I was in the studio, then everything I was doing in the studio should be art . . . . From that point on, art became more of an activity and less of a product.
I like my music with the rinds and the seeds and pulp left in.
Originality is the only thing that counts. But the originator uses material and ideas that occur round him and pass through him. And out of his experience comes the original creation.
As for the usefulness of poetry, its uses are many. It is the deification of reality.