To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds, or forms expressed through words, so to convey this so that others may experience the same feeling - this is the activity of art.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Art involves evoking a feeling in oneself and expressing it so others feel it too.
- In plain terms
- Feel something, then express it so others can feel the same.
- What can you take from it?
- Create art by sharing feelings others can experience.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you ensure others feel what you feel?
- Is shared experience necessary for art?
Another view
Audiences may interpret feelings differently than the artist intended.
More from Leo Tolstoy
Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one consciously, by means of certain external symbols, conveys to others the feelings one has experienced, whe…
Permalink to quote #59 By words one transmits thoughts to another, by means of art, one transmits feelings.
Permalink to quote #57 Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some mysterious Idea of beauty or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists say, [play or] a…
Permalink to quote #60
Related quotes
I was a weird little kid. I was very irritable, bored, frustrated. I felt my imagination bubbling inside my head without having any way to express itself. Give…
Clive BarkerClive Barker quote #5 Art is a refining and evocative translation of the materials of the world.
Gwendolyn BrooksGwendolyn Brooks quote #8 One cannot create an art that speaks to me when one has nothing to say.
Andre MalrauxAndre Malraux quote #10