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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Collage art combines seemingly incompatible elements to create a new, meaningful piece.
In this quote, Max Ernst describes collage as an artistic method that triumphs over the absurd by merging disparate realities that may seem conflicting at first glance. This process allows the artist to present a new perspective, challenging traditional notions of harmony and coherence in art.
Themes
CollageArtCreativityRealityExpression
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the value of experimental art in modern galleries.
More from Max Ernst
All quotes →Creativity 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
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.
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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