Art is the expression of imagination, not the reproduction of reality.
Interpretation
Art reflects imagination and creativity rather than merely replicating what already exists.
Henry Moore emphasizes that true art arises from one's imagination and creative vision. Instead of being a direct copy of reality, art should express the unique interpretations and emotions of the artist, encouraging viewers to see the world through a new lens.
In practice
During a gallery opening, discuss how Moore's quote challenges artists to innovate.
Recently I have been working in the country, where, carving in the open air, I find sculpture more natural than in a London studio, but it needs bigger dimensions. A large piece of stone or wood placed almost anywhere at random in a field, orchard, or garden, immediately looks right and inspiring.
I find in all the artists that I admire most a disturbing element, a distortion, giving evidence of a struggle . . . . In great art, this conflict is hidden, it is unresolved. All that is bursting with energy is disturbing - not perfect.
Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function. The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving and goes deeper than the senses.
A work can have in it a pent-up energy, an intense life of its own, independent of the subject it may represent.
I have always liked drawing, when you draw you see things more intensely.
The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do.
Colours shone with exceptional clarity in the rain. The ground was a deep black, the pine branches a brilliant green, the people wrapped in yellow looking like special spirits that were allowed to wander over the earth on rainy mornings only.
A painting to me is primarily a verb, not a noun, an event first and only secondarily an image.
It doesn't matter if your lead character is good or bad. He just has to be interesting, and he has to be good at what he does.
Dancers today can do anything; the technique is phenomenal. The passion and the meaning to their movement can be another thing.
All the great works of art, the cathedrals - the Gothic cathedrals and the splendid Baroque churches - are a luminous sign of God, and thus are truly a manifestation, an epiphany of God.
I'm a frotteur, someone who likes to rub words in his hand, to turn them around and feel them, to wonder if that really is the best word possible.
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