My whole life has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against Reaction and the death of art.
Pablo PicassoRead
When you start with a portrait and try to find pure form by abstracting more and more, you must end up with an egg.
Interpretation
The process of abstraction leads to fundamental forms, akin to finding simplicity in complexity.
In this quote, Picasso suggests that when an artist begins with a detailed representation, such as a portrait, and progressively abstracts elements, they ultimately arrive at the basic, pure form, symbolized by an egg. This reflects the idea that art can distill complex subjects into their most essential shapes, emphasizing simplicity and fundamental beauty.
In practice
This quote can be used in an art class discussion about the process of abstraction in painting.
My whole life has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against Reaction and the death of art.
Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.
He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
I paint the way someone bites his fingernails; for me, painting is a bad habit because I don't know nor can I do anything else.
Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets.
Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often.
A true musician, like Johnny Cash, should be able to walk into a room with nothing but an instrument and capture people's attention for two hours.
I think I am the first person of color to direct a major white play on Broadway. In 1993? That's astounding to me. And horrifying to me.
Mediocre writers borrow; great writers steal.
Books are acts of composition: you compose them. You make music: the music is called fiction.
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