Who made art history? Not the most reasonable people. The mad men did. If painting is the mirror of a time, it must be mad to have a true image of what that time is. To one madness we oppose another madness.
Max ErnstRead
Painting is neither decorative amusement, nor the plastic invention of felt reality; it must be every time: invention, discovery, revelation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Painting should be seen as a process of creativity and insight rather than mere decoration.
Max Ernst emphasizes that painting goes beyond superficial aesthetics. It is an active process of invention, where the artist must discover deeper truths and reveal insights through their work, suggesting that art should provoke thought and evoke profound emotions rather than simply serve as visual decoration.
Themes
PaintingArtInventionDiscoveryRevelation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in an art class to inspire students about the purpose of their creations.
More from Max Ernst
All quotes βCreativity is that marvelous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition.
Max ErnstRead
When the artist finds himself he is lost. The fact that he has succeeded in never finding himself is regarded by Max Ernst as his only lasting achievement.
Max ErnstRead
Collage is the noble conquest of the irrational, the coupling of two realities, irreconcilable in appearance, upon a plane which apparently does not suit them.
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Every normal human being (and not merely the 'artist') has an inexhaustible store of buried images in his subconscious, it is merely a matter of courage or liberating procedures ... of voyages into the unconscious, to bring pure and unadulterated found objects to light.
Max ErnstRead
Painting is not for me either decorative amusement, or the plastic invention of felt reality; it must be every time: invention, discovery, revelation.
Max ErnstRead
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