That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal; from which it follows that irregularity – that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment, are a essential part and characteristic of beauty.
Charles BaudelaireRead
Delacroix was passionately in love with passion, but coldly determined to express passion as clearly as possible.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Baudelaire highlights the conflict between the intense experience of passion and the artist's need for clarity in expression.
In this quote, Charles Baudelaire reflects on the role of emotional intensity in art, specifically referencing the painter Eugène Delacroix. While Delacroix had a fervent love for the concept of passion itself, he approached the act of creating art with a calculated and measured mindset, aiming to convey the essence of that passion in a clear and accessible way. This duality showcases the balance that artists often must strike between deep emotions and technical precision.
Themes
PassionArtExpressionClarityEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the balance between emotion and technique in art classes.
More from Charles Baudelaire
All quotes →The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.
Charles BaudelaireRead
Who among us has not dreamt, in moments of ambition, of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical without rhythm and rhyme, supple and staccato enough to adapt to the lyrical stirrings of the soul, the undulations of dreams, and sudden leaps of consciousness.
Charles BaudelaireRead
There is no sweeter pleasure than to surprise a man by giving him more than he hopes for.
Charles BaudelaireRead
The priest is an immense being because he makes the crowd believe astonishing things.
Charles BaudelaireRead
I consider it useless and tedious to represent what exists, because nothing that exists satisfies me. Nature is ugly, and I prefer the monsters of my fancy to what is positively trivial.
Charles BaudelaireRead
Similar quotes
Every time I get in the studio, I feel like I wanna have some fun. My fun is not doing the easy work. My fun is doing what's me.
NasRead
I was captured by music at a really early age. I was really captured by it. Everything about it. It was my mother… It was my father… It was my play thing. It was my toy. It was the best thing in my life.
Jeff BuckleyRead
The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.
Jean CocteauRead
I believe that music is connected by human passions and curiosities rather than by marketing strategies.
Elvis CostelloRead
Acting is not about being someone different. It's finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.
Meryl StreepRead
If I create with my heart almost all my intentions remain. If it is with the head - almost nothing. An artist must not fear to be himself, to express only himself. If he is absolutely and entirely sincere, what he says and does will be acceptable to others.
Marc ChagallRead