To end up with a canvas that is no less beautiful than the empty canvas is to begin with.
Robert MotherwellRead
A main part of the struggle of art has been to make an art that is direct, simple, humane, unconnected with powers that be in their essence... To the degree that it is connected with the bourgeoisie via the marketplace and so on is not necessarily an artist's problem.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of creating art that remains authentic and unbound by societal or market pressures.
Robert Motherwell highlights the struggle artists face in producing work that is straightforward, humane, and free from the influence of oppressive power structures. He suggests that while art may inevitably intersect with the commercial interests of society, the core challenge rests in the artist's ability to stay true to their vision and purpose, rather than succumbing to the demands of the bourgeois marketplace.
Themes
ArtMarketplaceBourgeoisieAuthenticityExpression
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a speech about the values of artistic integrity in today's commercialized world.
More from Robert Motherwell
All quotes →It's not that the creative act and the critical act are simultaneous. It's more like you blurt something out and then analyze it.
Robert MotherwellRead
Art is an experience, not an object.
Robert MotherwellRead
Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.
Robert MotherwellRead
Similar quotes
Purer colors... have in themselves, independently of the objects they serve to express, a significant action on the feelings of those who look at them.
Henri MatisseRead
I can't distract myself enough here, for sketches to a new opera are constantly buzzing around in my head, to the extent that I need all my strength to wrest myself from them.
Richard WagnerRead
Originally, poetry creates the myth, while the prose-writer draws its portrait.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
Music can be healing, and with my history and my knowledge of both sides of what looks like a gigantic divide in the world, I feel I can point a way forward to our common humanity again.
Cat StevensRead
With photography, I like to create a fiction out of reality. I try and do this by taking society's natural prejudice and giving this a twist.
Martin ParrRead
There's nothing more important in making movies than the screenplay.
Richard AttenboroughRead