The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.
The art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving the particular and generalizing it, thus creating the particular again. It is therefore a powerful transforming force and a generator of creative solutions in relation to a given problem.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creativity involves recognizing specific details and abstracting them into broader concepts, which can then inspire new creations.
This quote by Michelangelo emphasizes the dual process of creation, where the artist perceives both the uniqueness of individual elements and the common threads that bind them. This ability to generalize from specific observations not only enables the artist to create anew but also serves as a transformative power that can provide innovative solutions to problems, highlighting the intricate relationship between perception and creativity in the artistic process.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of innovation, one could mention, 'As Michelangelo said, the art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving.'
More from Michelangelo
All quotes →Art lives on constraint and dies of freedom.
If it be true that any beautiful thing raises the pure and just desire of man from earth to God, the eternal fount of all, such I believe my love.
Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.
There is an angel imprisoned in it and I must set it free.
If in my youth I had realized that the sustaining splendour of beauty of with which I was in love would one day flood back into my heart, there to ignite a flame that would torture me without end, how gladly would I have put out the light in my eyes.
Similar quotes
My job as a performer is to make sure that whatever happens in a performance lives in somebody else, that it's memorable... If you forget tomorrow what you heard yesterday, there's really not much point in you having been there - or me, for that matter.
Just as anyone who listens to the muse will hear, you can write out of your own intention or out of inspiration. There is such a thing. It comes up and talks. And those who have heard deeply the rhythms and hymns of the gods, can recite those hymns in such a way that the gods will be attracted.
The modern artist is working with space and time, and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.
So, in some ways, the political songs tend to be a bit more like reportage, whereas the love songs tend to be like novels, you can pick them up off the shelf and go into them any time.
Film in the 20th century, it's the American art form, like jazz.
Usually, comedy shows only influence other comedy shows. 'M*A*S*H' is one of the few comedies that influenced dramatic shows as well.