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
What this quote means
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.
Themes
AbstractionArtSimplicityFormPortrait
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in an art class discussion about the process of abstraction in painting.
More from Pablo Picasso
All quotes βPainting is just another way of keeping a diary.
Pablo PicassoRead
In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.
Pablo PicassoRead
He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
Pablo PicassoRead
You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
Pablo PicassoRead
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.
Pablo PicassoRead
Similar quotes
Film should be looked at straight on; it is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.
Werner HerzogRead
It is enough for a poet to be the guilty conscience of his age.
Saint-John PerseRead
When you're writing, you're conjuring. It's a ritual, and you need to be brave and respectful and sometimes get out of the way of whatever it is that you're inviting into the room.
Tom WaitsRead
I don't watch my own films very often. I become so jittery and ready to cry... and miserable. I think it's awful.
Ingmar BergmanRead
Do you know that every great thing in the history of art and every beautiful thing in life is actually what you call nasty or has been caused by feelings that you would call nasty? By passion, by love, by hatred, by truth. Do you know that?
John FowlesRead
Not surprisingly, he began to sing, and because no one in the world could hear him, and he sang without inhibition, he sang well.
Mark HelprinRead