No art is less spontaneous than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and the study of the great masters.
Edgar DegasRead
Drawing is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression, a species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Drawing serves as an immediate and genuine way for an artist to express their identity.
In this quote, Edgar Degas emphasizes that drawing is a fundamental form of artistic expression that allows artists to communicate their innermost thoughts and personalities more authentically than painting. He suggests that through the raw and spontaneous nature of drawing, one can gain deeper insights into the artist's character and creative intentions.
Themes
DrawingArtExpressionPersonalitySpontaneity
In practice
Example use cases
An artist showcasing their sketches during an art exhibition to illustrate their creative process.
More from Edgar Degas
All quotes βEveryone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty.
Edgar DegasRead
It is all very well to copy what one sees, but it is far better to draw what one now only sees in one's memory. That is a transformation in which imagination collaborates with memory.
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The Dance instills in you something that sets you apart. Something heroic and remote.
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You have to have a high conception, not of what you are doing, but of what you may do one day: without that, there's no point in working.
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There is a kind of success that is indistinguishable from panic.
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