QuoteProject
The symbol of all art is the Prism. The goal is unrealism. The method is destructive. To break up the white light of objective realism, into the secret glories which it contains.
E. E. Cummings
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Art seeks to transform reality into something more profound and beautiful through abstraction.

In this quote, E. E. Cummings suggests that art is like a prism that breaks down the ordinary and realistic into a myriad of hidden meanings and expressions, encouraging artists to move beyond mere representation. The process of creating art involves a destruction of the conventional understanding of reality to uncover deeper truths and experiences that transcend everyday perception.

Themes

ArtPrismRealismBeautyExpression

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about modern art's significance, one might say, 'As E. E. Cummings stated, the symbol of all art is the Prism, revealing the deeper beauty within our reality.'

More from E. E. Cummings

I'd rather have two good friends, than 500,000 admirers.
E. E. CummingsRead
I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
E. E. CummingsRead
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
E. E. CummingsRead
When god decided to invent everything he took one reath bigger than a circustent and everything began
E. E. CummingsRead
The Artist is no other than he who unlearns what he has learned, in order to know himself.
E. E. CummingsRead
Nobody else can be alive for you; nor can you be alive for anybody else.
E. E. CummingsRead

Similar quotes

That part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia.
C. S. LewisRead
I get good references from a wide range of music. Something who's been a good influence in the last few years is Qawwali music. If you listen to a Qawwali singer like Aziz Mian - he's like James Brown. Qawwali is like Pakistani gospel-jazz. It's emotional, but it's also improvised, and it's all about that sacred-and-profane tightrope.
Riz AhmedRead
Any photograph has multiple meanings: indeed, to see something in the form of a photograph is to encounter a potential object of fascination. The ultimate wisdom of the photographic image is to say: “There is the surface. Now think – or rather feel, intuit – what is beyond it, what the reality must be like if it looks this way.’ Photographs, which cannot themselves explain anything, are inexhaustible invitations to deduction, speculation, and fantasy
Susan SontagRead
An abstract painting need in 50 years by no means look "abstract" any longer.
Marcel DuchampRead
I can come up with 30 T-shirt designs in a day, but it's just about where to slot each of them. That's streetwear to me. It's about knowing where to buy things, not this mass thing you can get anywhere.
Virgil AblohRead
It's funny with fiction - once you cut something, it hasn't happened anymore.
George SaundersRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.