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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that true artistic expression often comes from a place of being lost and unresolved.
Max Ernst implies that the journey of self-discovery can lead an artist to feel lost, and this feeling of being 'lost' is what ultimately allows for genuine creativity. The artist's ability to embrace this ambiguity and uncertainty is seen as their greatest accomplishment, as it fuels their innovative spirit and artistic endeavors.
Themes
ArtSelf-DiscoveryCreativityAmbiguityInnovation
In practice
Example use cases
In a presentation on the creative process, one might say this quote to emphasize the importance of embracing uncertainty.
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
Painting is neither decorative amusement, nor the plastic invention of felt reality; it must be every time: invention, discovery, revelation.
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.
Max ErnstRead
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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