Surrealism will usher you into death, which is a secret society. It will glove your hand, burying therein the profound M with which the word Memory begins.
Andre BretonRead
Beauty is like a train that ceaselessly roars out of the Gare de Lyon and which I know will never leave, which has not left. It consists of jolts and shocks, many of which do not have much importance, but which we know are destined to produce one Shock, which does...The human heart, beautiful as a seismograph...Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or will not be at all.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty is a complex and dynamic experience that evokes deep emotional responses, often intertwined with moments of shock and intensity.
In this quote, Andre Breton illustrates the notion that beauty is not static or simple; instead, it is a powerful force that can produce profound emotional reactions. He compares beauty to a train that continuously departs from a specific point, symbolizing that while beauty is ever-present, it also comes with unexpected jolts and shocks that have the potential to deeply impact the human heart. The idea that beauty must be 'convulsive' suggests that true beauty demands significant emotional engagement and intensity.
Themes
BeautyEmotionArtExperienceIntensity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about modern art in a gallery setting.
More from Andre Breton
All quotes →The mind, placed before any kind of difficulty, can find an ideal outlet in the absurd. Accommodation to the absurd readmits adults to the mysterious realm inhabited by children.
Andre BretonRead
I maintain that anyone who still refuses to see, for instance, a horse galloping on a tomato, must be an idiot. A tomato is also a child's balloon - Surrealism, again, having suppressed the word "like."
Andre BretonRead
There is no use being alive if one must work. The event from which each of us is entitled to expect the revelation of his own life’s meaning - that event which I may not yet have found, but on whose path I seek myself - is not earned by work.
Andre BretonRead
Let us not mince words: the marvelous is always beautiful, anything marvelous is beautiful, in fact only the marvelous is beautiful.
Andre BretonRead
The simplest act of surrealism is to walk out into the street, gun in hand, and shoot at random.
Andre BretonRead
Similar quotes
Before I was born my mother was in great agony of spirit and in a tragic situation. She could take no food except iced oysters and champagne. If people ask me when I began to dance, I reply 'In my mother's womb, probably as a result of the oysters and Champagne.'
Isadora DuncanRead
Over time, I have come to see the work of literature less as narrating the world than "seeing the world with words." From the moment he begins to use words like colors in a painting, a writer can begin to see how wondrous and surprising the world is, and he breaks the bones of language to find his own voice. For this he needs paper, a pen, and the optimism of a child looking at the world for the first time.
Orhan PamukRead
I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.
Joan CrawfordRead
So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.
Clarice LispectorRead
I have no interest in ever coming out. I’m just trying to make the pictures look good; I’m not into trying to make myself look good. And besides, it’s a pretty safe bet that the reality of me would be a crushing disappointment to a couple of 15-year-old kids out there.
BanksyRead
One can rightly speak of an evolution in plastic art. It is of the greatest importance to note this fact, for it reveals the true way of art - the only path along which we can advance.
Piet MondrianRead