"The more freely abstract the form becomes, the purer, and also the more primitive it sounds. Therefore, in a composition in which corporeal elements are more or less superfluous, they can be more or less omitted and replaced by purely abstract forms, or by corporeal forms that have been completely abstracted.. .Here we are confronted by the question: Must we not then renounce the object altogether, throw it to the winds and instead lay bare the purely abstract? This is a question that naturally arises, the answer to which is at once indicated by an analysis of the concordance of the two elements of form (the objective and the abstract). Just as every word spoken (tree, sky, man) awakens an inner vibration, so too does every pictorially represented object. To deprive oneself of the possibility of this calling up vibrations would be to narrow one's arsenal of expressive means. At least, that is how it is today. But apart from today's answer, the above question receives the eternal answer to every question in art that begins with 'must.' There is no 'must' in art, which is forever free."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Quote from: Kandinsky: Complete Writings on Art, eds. Kenneth C. Lindsay and Peter Vergo, 2 Vols. (transl. Peter Vergo); Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., (1982), p. 195; as cited in: Samet, Jennifer Sachs. Painterly Representation in New York, 1945-1975. Dissertation, The City University of New York, 2010. p. 25
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."