QuoteProject
Beauty is the adjustment of all parts proportionately so that one cannot add or subtract or change without impairing the harmony of the whole.
Leon Battista Alberti
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Beauty is the harmonious arrangement of elements that cannot be altered without losing its essence.

This quote by Leon Battista Alberti emphasizes the importance of proportion and harmony in defining beauty. It suggests that beauty arises from a perfect balance of parts, where each element contributes to the overall aesthetic, and any alteration would disrupt this delicate equilibrium, demonstrating how interconnectedness plays a crucial role in artistic creation and appreciation.

Themes

BeautyHarmonyProportionArtAesthetics

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used during a discussion on the principles of design in an art class.

More from Leon Battista Alberti

Painting contains a divine force which... makes the dead seem almost alive.
Leon Battista AlbertiRead
I certainly consider a great appreciation of painting to be the best indication of a most perfect mind.
Leon Battista AlbertiRead

Similar quotes

Fantasy is fantasy. It's fiction. It's not meant to be a textbook. I don't believe in letting research overwhelm the fiction. That's a danger of science fiction in particular, as opposed to fantasy. A lot of writers forget that what they're doing is supposed to be art.
N. K. JemisinRead
I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.
George EliotRead
Tango is about feeling and sensitivity, otherwise you are just doing gymnastics. You can do all the steps but it has to have the feeling and sensitivity of authentic tango.
Carlos GavitoRead
Great things do not just happen by impulse, _x000D_ but as a succession of small things linked together.
Vincent Van GoghRead
When I first began choreographing, I never thought of it as choreography but as expressing feelings. Though every piece is different, they are all trying to get at certain things that are difficult to put into words. In the work, everything belongs to everything else - the music, the set, the movement and whatever is said.
Pina BauschRead
Most architects think in drawings, or did think in drawings; today, they think on the computer monitor. I always tried to think three dimensionally. The interior eye of the brain should be not flat but three dimensional so that everything is an object in space. We are not living in a two-dimensional world.
Frei OttoRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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