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The surrealists still see things as everyone sees them, they complicate them in a different way but the vision is that of everyone else, in short the complication is the complication of the twentieth century but the vision is that of the nineteenth century. Picasso only sees something else, another reality. Complications are always easy but another vision than that of all the world is very rare.

Gertrude Stein#89

ArtCreativityInnovationOriginalityVision

About this quote

What does it mean?
Most surrealists complicate vision without changing it, whereas rare artists like Picasso see entirely new realities.
In plain terms
Most artists complicate old views; only a few see new realities.
What can you take from it?
True innovation requires a new vision, not just complexity.

Where it applies

  • art criticism
  • creative process
  • innovation study

Putting it to work

  • seek new perspectives
  • avoid mere complexity
  • challenge conventions

Questions to consider

  • What makes a vision truly new?
  • Is complexity the same as innovation?

Another view

It judges most artists harshly for not achieving rare originality.

More from Gertrude Stein

  1. A creator is not in advance of his generation but he is the first of his contemporaries to be conscious of what is happening to his generation. A creator who c…

    Permalink to quote #88
  2. After all, everybody, that is, everybody who writes is interested in living inside themselves in order to tell what is inside themselves. That is why writers h…

    Permalink to quote #90
  3. Perhaps I am not I even if my little dog knows me but anyway I like what I have and now it is today. ~ Ch. 5

    Permalink to quote #87

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