My whole life has been nothing more than a continuous struggle against Reaction and the death of art.
Pablo PicassoRead
To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de grace for the painter as well as for the picture.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Completing a piece of art can strip it of its essence and spirit.
In this quote, Pablo Picasso expresses the idea that finalizing a work of art is not merely a conclusion but a form of death for the artwork's creative spirit. He suggests that the act of finishing takes away the vitality and soul of what the artist has created, implying that art is an ongoing process rather than a definitive endpoint.
Themes
ArtCreationSoulProcessCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in an art class to inspire students about the creative process.
More from Pablo Picasso
All quotes →Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.
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In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.
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He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
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You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it should be a vague idea.
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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.
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