My whole life has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against Reaction and the death of art.
Pablo PicassoRead
Art is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not art.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art challenges and provokes thought, and it should be approached with the right understanding and readiness.
In this quote, Pablo Picasso expresses the idea that art is inherently complex and can be provocative or challenging. He argues that art should not be something that is kept pure or innocent; instead, it is meant to evoke strong emotions and reactions. Picasso suggests that those who engage with art should have the maturity and awareness to appreciate and understand its deeper meanings, as true art transcends surface appearances and delves into the profound aspects of human experience. Thus, art's value is often tied to its ability to confront, provoke, and challenge perceived norms and understandings.
Themes
ArtDangerProvocationUnderstandingMaturity
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about contemporary art, this quote could be used to discuss the role of provocative content in artistic expression.
More from Pablo Picasso
All quotes →Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
Pablo PicassoRead
In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.
Pablo PicassoRead
He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
Pablo PicassoRead
You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
Pablo PicassoRead
I paint the way someone bites his fingernails; for me, painting is a bad habit because I don't know nor can I do anything else.
Pablo PicassoRead
Similar quotes
Music comes from the musician, not the instrument.
Victor WootenRead
I realized with Broadway everything written for black people is usually written in the past, and I'm kind of a contemporary guy. I don't think you want to see me in 'Raisin in the Sun'.
Chris RockRead
In some ways I believe music is the more convincing communicator of ideas than words. For instance, we can hear of Kordaly and Bartok and recognise them as Hungarian, but very few of us speak Hungarian, but the music itself speaks to more people.
Leonard SlatkinRead
Gay writers now have both a sense of history and the fables that allows them to dwell in the realms of the ridiculous and at the same time talk seriously about things.
Tony KushnerRead
I do - very specifically, I remember Bessie Smith; I used to collect 78 records that I would buy from the St Vincent de Paul store at five cents apiece, and I did this indiscriminately. I would just take whatever was there. And I listened to Patti Page and Walter Huston, 'September Song.'
August WilsonRead
Who among us has not dreamt, in moments of ambition, of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical without rhythm and rhyme, supple and staccato enough to adapt to the lyrical stirrings of the soul, the undulations of dreams, and sudden leaps of consciousness.
Charles BaudelaireRead