It is essential that the painter should develop not only his eyes, but also his soul, so that it too may be capable of weighing colors in balance.
Interpretation
A painter must tune both their visual perception and emotional depth to truly understand and express color.
This quote by Wassily Kandinsky emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to painting. It suggests that an artist should not only hone their technical skills and visual understanding of color but also nurture their inner self or soul, which gives depth to their art. An effective artist needs to blend both their analytical abilities and emotional intelligence to create a balanced and impactful expression through color.
In practice
In an art class, a teacher may use this quote to inspire students to connect emotionally with their work.
The true work of art is born from the 'artist': a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being.
The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning.
With cold eyes and indifferent mind the spectators regard the work. Connoissers admire the "skill" (as one admires a tightrope walker), enjoy the "quality of painting" (as one enjoys a pasty). But hungry souls go hungry away. The vulgar herd stroll through the rooms and pronounce the pictures "nice" or "splendid." Those who could speak have said nothing, those who could hear have heard nothing.
The sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with bass notes or dark lake with treble.
The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct its appeal.
All methods are sacred if they are internally necessary. All methods are sins if they are not justified by internal necessity.
There is this looking at the world as shapes and patterns and colors that have meaning, and you can't deny the superficial because the superficial is what meets the eye.
When I'm writing, I'm trying to immerse myself in the chaos of an emotional experience, rather than separate myself from it and look back at it from a distance with clarity and tell it as a story. Because that's how life is lived, you know?
We usually evaluate creative process in terms of how much feeling or thinking was behind the work or how well the work was done. Isn't there any other way of appreciating the process? What if the standard of excellence was how fully present the artist was during the process?
The kind of fiction I'm trying to write is about telling the truth.
Think it a vile habit to alter works of good composers, to omit parts of them, or to insert new-fashioned ornaments. This is the greatest insult you can offer to Art.
I paint what I see and not what others like to see.
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