"The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct is its appeal. In any composition the material side may be more or less omitted in proportion as the forms used are more or less material, and for them substituted pure abstractions, or largely dematerialized objects. The more an artist uses these abstracted forms, the deeper and more confidently will he advance into the kingdom of the abstract. And after him will follow the gazer at his pictures, who also will have gradually acquired a greater familiarity with the language of that kingdom. Must we then abandon utterly all material objects and paint solely in abstractions? The problem of harmonizing the appeal of the material and the non-material shows us the answer to this question. As every word spoken rouses an inner vibration, so likewise does every object represented. To deprive oneself of this possibility is to limit one's powers of expression. That is at any rate the case at present. But besides this answer to the question, there is another, and one which art can always employ to any question beginning with "must": There is no "must" in art, because art is free."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
VI. The language of Form and Colour
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Wassily Kandinsky
1866 – 1944
russischer Maler, Graphiker und Kunsttheoretiker
91 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Wassily Kandinsky →
Related Quotes
"We do not want to leave Germany forever. Something I would not be able to manage at all, since my roots sit too deep …"
"At the moment there is a great tendency in painting to discover the 'new' harmony by constructive means whereby the r…"
"Frankly, I think there is something wrong with Jawlensky's dots [in his paintings, then]. Anybody can pick up that st…"
"At an unknown hour, from a source that is still sealed to us, but inexorable, the Work comes into the world. Cold cal…"
"The impressions we receive, which often appear merely chaotic, consist of three elements; the impression of the color…"
"Mystery, speaking through mysteries. Isn't that meaning? Isn't that the conscious or unconsciousnes purpose of the co…"
"Opposites and contradictions, that is our harmony."
"[ Schoenberg's ] music leads us into a realm where musical experience is a matter not of the ear but of the soul alon…"
"In your [ composer Schönberg's ] works, you have realized what I, albeit in uncertain form, have so greatly longed fo…"
"If the artist has outer and inner eyes for nature, nature rewards him by giving him inspiration."