QuoteProject
What lives in art and is eternally living, is first of all the painter and then the painting.
Vincent Van Gogh
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Art is a reflection of the artist's life and spirit, making both the artist and the artwork everlasting.

This quote by Vincent Van Gogh emphasizes the deep connection between the artist and their creation. It suggests that the essence of art is rooted not only in the final piece itself but also in the life experiences, emotions, and identity of the artist. Both the painter and the painting contribute to the legacy of art, as the artist infuses their soul into the work, making it an extension of themselves. This interplay illustrates that art is a living entity, shaped by the creator's journey and thoughts.

Themes

ArtArtistPaintingCreativityExpression

In practice

Example use cases

In a conversation about the importance of art in life, one might say, 'As Van Gogh said, what lives in art is the painter and the painting.'

More from Vincent Van Gogh

How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?
Vincent Van GoghRead
Describing Starry Night: Firmament and planets both disappeared, but the mighty breath which gives life to all things and in which all is bound up remained.
Vincent Van GoghRead
To express a marriage of two complementary colors, their mingling and their opposition, the mysterious vibrations of kindred tones.
Vincent Van GoghRead
Great things do not just happen by impulse, _x000D_ but as a succession of small things linked together.
Vincent Van GoghRead
The world concerns me only in so far as I have a certain debt and duty to it, because I have lived in it for thirty years and owe to it to leave behind some souvenir in the shape of drawings and paintings – not done to please any particular movement, but within which a genuine human sentiment is expressed.
Vincent Van GoghRead
To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God, not a dead one, or a stuffed one, who with irresistible force urges us towards more loving.
Vincent Van GoghRead

Similar quotes

Above all, it's hard learning to live with vivid mental images of scenes I cared for and failed to photograph. It is the edgy existence within me of these unmade images that is the only assurance that the best photographs are yet to be made.
Sam AbellRead
No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.
Claude MonetRead
If I've done my work well, I vanish completely from the scene. I believe it is invasive of the work when you know too much about the writer.
Mary OliverRead
Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.
Andre GideRead
You must in all Airs follow the strength, spirit, and disposition of the horse, and do nothing against nature; for art is but to set nature in order, and nothing else.
William CavendishRead
I think pictures and words have the power to make us rich or poor.
Barbara KrugerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.