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All methods are sacred if they are internally necessary. All methods are sins if they are not justified by internal necessity.
Wassily Kandinsky
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that the value of artistic methods depends on their necessity and intent.

Wassily Kandinsky emphasizes that the legitimacy of an artistic method is determined by its internal necessity. If a method is essential to the artist's expression or purpose, it is deemed sacred; conversely, methods that lack this justification are seen as misguided or inappropriate. This idea encourages artists to pursue authenticity in their work and to ensure that their chosen techniques resonate with their inner intentions.

Themes

ArtNecessityMethodsExpressionAuthenticity

In practice

Example use cases

An art critic discussing the validity of different artistic styles at a gallery opening.

More from Wassily Kandinsky

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct its appeal.
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Every man who steeps himself in the spiritual possibilities of his heart is a valuable helper in the building of the spiritual pyramid which will someday reach to heaven.
Wassily KandinskyRead

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